Role Play Like Never Before
by YouNeedFrescoToLive
Summary: What would happen if you had the power to live in your own Naruto Shippuden role play? The possibilities are endless. What is happy bread? More importantly, what would happen if you gave Sasuke happy bread? What would happen if Tobi got a hold of Hidan's cell phone? What would Neji give Deidara as a birthday present? This story explores those possibilities.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: As much as it pains us to say this, we most definitely do not own the show Naruto Shippuden.**

**Banana: NO! But... I need it! :'(**

**Sammay: *Dies***

* * *

**Chapter One**

With a long creak, the front door slowly opened like it did on the same time every single weekday. A girl the age of sixteen stepped inside her house, letting out an exasperated sigh. Why did everything have to be so boring? She did the same things every day, she ate the same food everyday, and she talked to the same people everyday. Her freshman and sophomore years were bearable, but she envisioned that finally being a true upperclassman would be a completely different experience. It wasn't much better, though. As soon as her junior year started, she was bombarded with stacks of work for the AP classes she was taking. She wasn't having trouble with the work, but it just took up so much _time_. Sighing again, she tiredly took out her binder and her laptop from her backpack and carried them upstairs to her room, where she could study in piece.

Nearly five hours later, the girl wrote the last sentence to the final problem of her AP Bio homework. A smile forming on her lips, she threw the pieces of paper across the room and collapsed on her bed with her laptop, immediately typing ' ' into the search browser. Ahhhhhhh... The only time she could relax was when she watched Naruto Shippuden. The world of shinobi never ceased to interest her. If she could, she would have totally immersed herself into that world- and stayed there.

As the girl clicked on an episode link and waited for it to load, her green eyes wandered over to a poster of Deidara on her wall. Like always, she admired his features. She wasn't exactly sure of the reason, but she took a gradual liking to Deidara until he was her favorite character by a long shot. At that point, she could have sworn that she was in love with him. She actually probably was. Oh, but she liked other Naruto characters as well. As the girl regarded the Deidara poster, she noted how much better anime guys were than real guys.

_Real guys suck,_ she blatantly thought.

In the middle of the Naruto episode, her iPhone's screen lit up as the two-toned Kik notification rang through the air. Pausing the video, she typed in her passcode (IloveDeidara123). Her small smile only grew when she read the message.

* * *

Sammay Dunaway: Hey, Savanna! How's it going? :D

* * *

It was from her cousin in Utah, Sammay. Well, her real name wasn't really Sammay... It was Sammy. Sammay kind of became a nickname for her just because it was a fun thing to say. And sure, Utah was only a state away from California, but to the girl, it felt like she was light-years apart from her cousin. Quickly, she typed in a response.

* * *

Banana Dunaway: Hey, Sammay! I missed you! It's... Well... It's really boring over here, but I have a fantastic idea. :3

* * *

She sat in her last period of the day, nearly shaking with anxiety. She switched positions, taking her right leg and bringing it up to her chest. That day had been an extremely long and boring one, and she had never wanted anything more than to be able to go home. Time ticked on and on in her head and the clock on the wall mocked her. One more minute. Possibly the longest minute of her entire life. Eventually the bell rang through her ears and she flung herself up from the seat, scooped up her binder and practically flew out of the room, along with a few other eager students. After she reached her locker and spun the combination, she grabbed her backpack, stuffed all of her belongings inside and slammed the door with a loud bang. Her legs brought her out of the school building and into the warm, dry air of Utah. After she ran down a whole street, she slowed down and walked calmly the rest of the way home, enjoying the nice weather.

A few blocks later, the happy teenager walked into her home and shut the door behind her, tossing her backpack into the floor as she did so. Thankfully, that day was a lucky day for her, since none of her teachers had decided to assign any dreaded homework. A day like that was rare for her, since most of her classes sent her home with a mountain of homework that she could hardly carry in her backpack without her shoulders aching. She strolled into the living room and collapsed onto the couch.

A couple of hours later, the peppy blonde became strangely bored. She blew out a puff of air as she stared blankly at the sitcom that played on the TV. She reluctantly grabbed the remote and turned off her only entertainment. What could she do now? An uncomfortable silence filled the room and she stood up, grabbing her iTouch off of the mantel. A frown formed on her lips as she saw no new notifications or messages. The world was just as bored as she was. The girl unlocked the device and nonchalantly tapped Kik Messenger. There had to be someone she could talk to who wasn't busy with something else. A familiar name popped up on her previous conversations: Banana Dunaway. The bored expression on her face immediately changed into an excited one. Her cousin Savanna would want to talk to her, wouldn't she?

'Hey, Savanna! How's it going? :D' she typed, and jabbed her finger onto the send button. She got a reply a few seconds later.

* * *

Banana Dunaway: Hey, Sammay! I missed you! It's... Well... It's really boring over here, but I have a fantastic idea. :3

* * *

She wondered what it could be and typed back.

* * *

Sammay Dunaway: And what's that? :)

* * *

Almost immediately, Savanna received another message from her cousin. She knew that Sammay liked Naruto as well, so an excited gleam formed in her eye when she typed in her response.

* * *

Banana Dunaway: I've only heard about this, but I want to try it out. Have you heard of role playing? I was thinking that we could do a role play based on my previous fanfiction. You know, the Naruto one. ;)

* * *

Of course Sammy had heard of roleplaying. She had done it before, and it was a lot of fun.

* * *

Sammay Dunaway: Oh, yeah! Those sound fun! :D

* * *

To Savanna, this was going to be the most exciting thing that happened all year. The smile on her face didn't waver for one moment as she thought of the beginning of the role play. _Hmm,_ she thought. _This is going to be based on my previous fanfiction, so I should already know the characters well. But where should it take place?... Ooohhh. How about my house? Yeah... And there should be a party... _

Lying on her stomach on top of her bed, Savanna eagerly typed in the first part of the role play, which lasted a few paragraphs. Basically, it just consisted of her tidying up her house before a party, with Naruto ringing the doorbell as he arrived- he would be the first person to show up. As Savanna tapped the letters on the screen of her iPhone, she wondered a little at what Sammay would respond with. She had a feeling that this was going to be fun... Really fun. When Savanna finished with her role play response, she quickly tapped the send button.

Savanna blinked, and suddenly, she was no longer holding her iPhone in her hands. Her body was in the exact same position as it was a moment ago, but her hands were empty. She didn't feel any different, but somehow, something was off. What was this...? Suddenly, Savanna further noticed that she wasn't lying on the bed, either- she was lying on a couch in a living room.

But she wasn't in just _any_ living room.

She was in her _fanfiction_ living room.

So, basically, Savanna found herself situated in a room that she imagined when just a few seconds ago, she was in her normal, boring house. She was in her house that she imagined herself for the role play! Furthermore, party decor lined the walls. When Savanna craned her neck to see into the kitchen, she observed that food covered a long table, obviously meant for an ample amount of people.

_Holy crap,_ Savanna thought. _This can't be happening. This can't be happening! This is... Uh, awesome, but I have to be dreaming. This isn't possible! _

As Savanna stared open-eyed at nothing in particular, a doorbell ring jarred her from her thoughts. Immediately, she guessed who the person on the other side of the front door was, but part of her dismissed the thought. If she really was in her dream home, then was that person... Naruto? Was it really him?

After two more doorbell rings, Savanna finally rolled off of the couch, pulled herself up from the lush carpet, and sluggishly shuffled over to the door (the door that strangely matched her description of it in her last fanfiction). More than a little afraid and anxious, she reached out a trembling hand and slowly turned the knob, pulling the door open.

What she saw next nearly gave her a heart attack. Her predictions were, in fact, true... The famous orange ninja stood merely a few feet away from her, grinning when the door opened.

Naruto closed one of his blue eyes in a wink. "Hey, Savanna! What took you so long? I guess preparing for the party is a lot of work, huh?"

Savanna really couldn't believe this was happening. Somehow, when she sent her role play response to Sammay, she came to this world so she could... Experience it?

_ASDFGHJKL._

How could that even be a possibility? Savanna knew that she wasn't dreaming because everything was so vivid, but she couldn't quite accept that fact just yet. At that moment, she wanted to squeal, jump up and down, roll around on the ground, touch Naruto to make sure he was real, stare, blush, and pass out all at the same time.

Instead, she smiled.

Of course, Savanna couldn't do that without a lot of difficulty. If she started acting like a weird fangirl all of a sudden, the Naruto characters would totally get suspicious. Plus, according to her former fanfiction, she was already friends with them for a long time.

_I have to act normal and be calm,_ Savanna thought. _I'm living in my own role play. No biggie, right? Heh, heh... OH, who am I kidding?! Even if I can remain calm on the outside, that's definitely not the case on the inside!_

Quickly, Savanna forced herself to step out of the way so Naruto could enter. "Sorry, Naruto. Preparing for a party takes a lot of work, you know." Her façade slipped up for a moment, so her mouth slightly twitched at the corners.

Sammy waited patiently for for Banana's message. She was so excited, so she jumped with joy when it finally arrived after a number of minutes. She read the whole part thoroughly a couple of times, getting very giddy. A party with the Naruto characters? How fun would that be? Sammy thought a bit about what she would put in her first part of the roleplay and then began typing furiously. She ended up in the shadows in her response, hiding from everyone. It would be awkward if I were to be out in the open, Sammy thought. Just because I wouldn't know any of them.

She tapped the send button and squealed, but only a moment after she did she was submerged into a darker environment. Sammy nearly gasped, but stopped herself from doing so. Did the power go off? No, the weather was too nice. That was when she realized that she wasn't holding her iTouch anymore. Sammy gulped and slowly poked her head out of the unfamiliar corner, and what she saw actually made her gasp.

Naruto Uzumaki and Savanna were standing only a couple of yards away.

Sammy quickly stepped back and pressed her back against the wall, breathing deeply. She had to be dreaming... something like this could never happen. She had to be dreaming or hallucinating. It was too good to be true...

Somehow, Savanna not only became aware of Sammay's presence around the corner, but also of her thoughts. She read all of Sammay's thoughts of bewilderment, surprise, and happiness. It was really like a role play... The reader knew what everyone was thinking. If that was so, then this could have really been happening...

As Savanna's eyes flicked toward the corner Sammay hid in, Naruto strode into her home, totally oblivious to her quick glance. "Yeah, but if it took you that long to get ready for the party, then it must be awesome!"

Savanna's smile grew as she closed the door and listened to Naruto's voice. It was so nice to hear him speak to her in person... It was a totally different experience. She still couldn't believe that he was actually standing a few feet away! "I certainly hope it's going to be awesome," she said.

"I'm sure it will," Naruto assured her. When he took a look around the room, an expression of mock surprise formed on his face. "Whoa! It looks like I'm the first person here, so I must be early. Hehehe..." _I'm totally glad I planned to come here early,_ he thought mischievously.

Again, to Savanna's surprise, Naruto's thoughts sounded in her head clearly, making her laugh softly. Even if she hadn't heard his thoughts, it was still pretty obvious that he decided to come here before anyone else arrived. "It looks like you are early," she remarked. "Everyone should be showing up really soon, though."

As Sammy tried to contain her excitement and happiness, she actually payed attention to the conversation her cousin and Naruto were having. Wasn't Savanna extremely timid and excited like her?

"Yeah, but if it took you that long to get ready for the party, then it must be awesome!" she heard Naruto's warm voice cheer. She smiled. His voice never ceased to make her happy, even though she had interests in someone else...

Suddenly, as she was dreaming of the Naruto world, she got vibes of excitement from Banana. She poked her head out of the corner again, but only that her eye was showing. For some reason she didn't want to be seen, even though she knew, somehow, that Banana was definitely aware of her presence. As the two in front of her continued mingling, she suddenly could read Naruto's thoughts clearly. He came to the party early on purpose, then. _How am I doing this?_ she thought, and suddenly understood how she knew so much about her cousin.

It was because she could read her mind, too. Too meaning she could read Naruto's mind, and possibly anyone else who would walk into the house.

And suddenly she realized that she knew a lot. More than she should. It frightened her, and she shrunk back into her corner and slid down the wall, onto the ground. Her brain was on overload, and she couldn't handle it. All of this was too exciting.

_Jeez, Sammay,_ Savanna jokingly thought. _Her intense feelings of joy are making it hard to control mine! _Right after that observation, she further realized that since Sammay could read people's thoughts as well, then she probably heard that...

"Hmm, I see..." Naruto trailed off, looking a little disappointed. It was so easy to detect his feelings in what he said, it was almost sad. Savanna absentmindedly twirled a strand of brown hair around her pointer finger. She was never going to get used to this... One moment she was alone in her room, and the next, she was speaking to a character she had worshipped nearly all her life. She was very surprised that the fangirl in her didn't show itself on the outside yet, but she had a feeling that it would soon.

Suddenly, Savanna couldn't help herself, so she rushed over to the window next to the front door and eagerly peered out, making her gasp a little. Seeing the Hidden Leaf Village only separated by the window almost made it seem unreal, even though there was no mistaking it- she was definitely inside of the village. Savanna didn't have much time to marvel, however. Her eyes shifted to three people walking towards her house, one of whom she had a little crush on.

Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, and Kiba Inuzuka.

Savanna's insides started fluttering just by the sight of them. _Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, _Savanna thought. _It's Team 8, right before my eyes! _

Naruto came over behind Savanna and gazed out the window like she did. "Huh? What is it?...Oh, team Kurenai's already here! Cool." Little did he know that Savanna was at the point where she felt like she could faint from happiness.

Sammy smiled at the thought of more of the characters coming. She was so excited to meet all of them, but yet, the thought was so nerve wracking. For one thing, they were characters from her most favorite show of all time. What if she screwed up the whole thing? And for another thing, Savanna actually knew them, Sammy didn't. She was unknown to the world and she knew it.

Kiba knocked on the front door, happy to be able to see Savanna again. It hadn't been long since he last saw her, but every time he did it was a treat. He frowned a bit at the thought of Naruto. He would definitely be there, and he was positive that they shared feelings for the girl. _Eh, I can survive a little competition, _Kiba thought.

Hinata, who was standing shyly next to Kiba, was thinking about everyone who would be at the party, not just Naruto. She wondered the most if her cousin, Neji would be there. He was one of a few that she felt comfortable around. Of course, she felt comfortable around all of her friends, but she had known Neji all of her life, and it was different with him.

"I'll get it," Naruto chorused once the doorbell rang through his ears. He dove for the door and swung it open, smiling at the visitors like he was the host of the party. "Welcome! Come on in!"

The trio entered, and Kiba immediately grinned at Savanna. "Hey!" he greeted with a small wave.

_I feel so out of place, _Sammy thought, still hiding from everyone. _I don't know how I should feel, really..._

_Aww, don't feel out of place, Sammay,_ Savanna thought. _I know! Once everyone arrives, I'll make you known to everyone! Heh... You'll be famous. _

A few seconds later, Savanna's mind registered that Kiba just acknowledged her, like he usually would have done in her previous fanfiction. Sure, he knew her for a long time in the _story, _but this was the first time Savanna herself was seeing him in person. Squirming on the inside, Savanna smiled softly and said, "Hi, Kiba."

When Naruto shut the door a little too forcefully, Shino remained standing nearby with his hands shoved into his pockets, nodding at Savanna before becoming as motionless as a statue. He looked so awkward, but by reading his thoughts, Savanna found out that he actually preferred to be that way. Shrugging, she turned to Hinata, who was fiddling with her fingers nervously.

"Hey, Hinata," Savanna greeted. "You look really pretty today." Of course, she always looked pretty (actually, outright gorgeous)... She was Savanna's favorite female Naruto character.

Hinata blushed and averted her eyes to the ground. "T-Thanks, Savanna... So, umm... I was wondering if my cousin... You know, Neji... Was coming?"

Savanna quickly glanced at Sammay's corner before answering. "I'm pretty sure he is, she replied. "I invited everyone, and they all said they could make it."

Hinata's face washed over with relief. "Is that so...? O-Oh... That's nice..."

_Hehe, _Savanna thought. _Yes, very nice indeed._ Almost immediately, she started conjuring a plan in her mind.

Sammy blushed just at the thought of Neji. She would actually be meeting him at one point. She had to... it would be impossible to avoid him, especially if he was coming to the party. Unless she hid in the corner the whole time... _Oh, I won't do that,_ she thought to herself. _My curiosity will get the best of me._

Kiba's grin widened at the sound of Savanna's voice while he glance around the room. "The house looks good," he complimented, and it really did. Party decorations were strewn all over, and he could smell food in the kitchen.

Hinata smiled as well. "It... it does look good," she agreed.

"Yeah, Savanna did it all on her own," Naruto announced proudly. "She put a lot of effort into it, right, Savanna?"

Right after Naruto asked the question, the doorbell rang throughout the home once again. When Naruto wrenched the front door open, the Ino-Shika-Cho team stood on the other side of the door. Shikamaru stood there, looking bored, as always. Choji was, of course, chowing down on a bag of chips, and Ino was smiling broadly, as peppy as ever.

_Parties are such a drag,_ Shikamaru thought, his hands shoved into his pant pockets. _Everyone is always so... happy._

"Hey, guys!" welcomed Naruto. "Are you ready for the party?"

Ino nodded, her blonde bangs bouncing up and down. "You bet! I'm ready for every party!"

Shikamaru looked at Naruto like he was an idiot. Well, compared to Shikamaru, he kind of was... "...Why would I be ready for a party?" Shikamaru inquired. "The only reason I'm here is because of Ino. She's making me come... It's so troublesome."

Ino wagged her pointer finger at Shikamaru. "Don't say things like that, Shikamaru! I'm only making you come because I know you'll have such an awesome time!" At her response, Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

When the three of them stepped inside, Choji sniffed and raised his head an inch. "Wow, something smells really good," he observed. "Is there food in the kitchen?"

"Yep!" Naruto confirmed. "Help yourself!" At that, Choji gladly entered the kitchen with Shikamaru trailing behind him.

_Seriously... Naruto is acting like the host of the party,_ Savanna thought. _It doesn't matter, anyway... Choji really is welcome to the food. I don't mind..._

Ino walked over to Hinata, the smile still on her face. "Hinataaa!" she nearly sang. "You look gorgeous!" Of course, Hinata's cheeks turned a darker shade of pink.

Savanna laughed. There were so many Naruto characters here... She felt like she could explode with joy. They were all here, talking, laughing...

Ino then turned to Savanna. "As do you, Savanna!" she winked, her smile growing as each moment passed.

Shikamaru scanned the kitchen while Choji scarfed down plenty of food items, an unimpressed look still plastered onto his face. But that look was on Shikamaru for the majority of the time. He did think that Savanna did a good job with the decorating.

"Are you guys ready to PART—" Naruto cried, but was interrupted by the continuous doorbell. He didn't bother to finish and tried to dive for the doorknob once more, but Ino beat him to it.

"Hey, guys!" Ino rejoiced, welcoming Tenten, Lee and Neji.

"Mm." Sammy let out a louder noise on accident once she felt Neji's presence and immediately slapped her hand over her mouth afterwards. Shino's interest peaked towards that particular corner. _I'm gonna explode in this corner,_ she thought, standing up and bouncing up and down without actually lifting her feet from the floor._ Shino already knows I'm back here._

Tenten waved and grinned as she walked into the living room. "Hey, guys!"

Lee brought his right hand to his forehead in a salute. "I am here and ready for the party to start," he declared. One corner of Neji's mouth turned upwards in a small smile as he greeted everyone.

_Oh, Sammay,_ Savanna thought. _Don't worry... You'll meet everyone._ She chuckled at Sammy's momentary spazzing.

Naruto slowly picked himself up from the carpet, where he fell on his face a few seconds before when he tried to lunge for the doorknob. However, as soon as he was standing again, he immediately picked up his partying mood again. "Are you guys ready to partay?!" he repeated.

"Yeah!" Tenten exclaimed. The TV and the contraption in front of it caught her eye. "Hey... What's that?"

"It's a game called Dance Dance Revolution," Savanna explained. "It's really fun... You should try it out. You see those two boards? You match the arrows on the screen by stepping on the arrows on the board. It's pretty self-explanatory. There's also a karaoke machine if you want to sing."

Ino giggled. "Ooooh... Dancing? I'm so in! Tenten. Me. You. Now."

Tenten was already situated on one of the Dance Dance Revolution boards, holding a remote in one hand. "May the best dancer win!"

Neji and Hinata moved over to the couch so they could sit down, and Lee stood behind the two boards, curiously watching the two kinoichi preparing to compete.

Shino continued to stare at the dark corner he heard a sound come from, but he couldn't make out anything due to the darkness (mostly because of his sunglasses). _Hmm,_ he thought._ I could have sworn I heard someone say something..._

The doorbell rang yet again, and Kiba grabbed the doorknob right when Naruto almost got a hold of it just to annoy him, making Naruto lose his balance and fall on his face... For the second time. Smirking, Kiba opened the door to find Sakura and Sai standing on the porch.

"Hey, Sai," Kiba waved with a smile. His smile immediately faded when he found the cotton candy head standing right next to Sai. "Oh. You're here."

Sai waved back with a fake smile right as Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well OF COURSE I'm here," she said annoyingly. "I couldn't miss a party!"

Kiba mentally threw up at the sight of the girl. She was so UGLY. He hesitated for a moment, but he let the two inside and immediately ran to the clear other side of the room to get away from the pinkette.

"Ew, Suckara's here," Sammy said to herself, but it was a bit louder than she meant. Shino definitely heard that statement and scanned the corner more thoroughly. He still didn't find anything. Sakura also heard, unfortunately...

"Who said that?!" she screeched, but nobody admitted to it. Shino had his suspicions, but he didn't mention anything more. Sammy simply stood in the corner, a smirk playing on her lips. _Messing with Suckara is going to be fun,_ she thought. _Really fun._

Savanna started cracking up because of Sammay's comment and Sakura's reaction. _I guess I should be at least a little nice to her because I'm the host of this party,_ she thought, _but that's going to be so... Hard..._

Only a minute after Sakura entered the house, the doorbell rang for the umpteenth time. Quickly, Savanna counted her fingers. Weren't there 12 main characters in Naruto Shippuden? So there was Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Neji, Lee, Tenten, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino... But that was already twelve. Then who was the person at the door?

Naruto was currently arguing with Sai in the hallway, so Savanna walked over to the front door, turned the knob, and pulled it towards her. The next sight made her beam like she'd just won a prize in the lottery.

Hey, Sasuke," she greeted.

_Of course,_ Savanna thought. _Anything can happen in a role play, and Naruto saved Sasuke from his path of revenge in my old fanfiction... I love this world! _

Sasuke's onyx eyes portrayed no emotion, but they nonetheless gave Savanna butterflies. "Hey," he replied. _Why am I even coming here?_

So, Sasuke didn't even know why he was coming to the party? Savanna laughed softly as she let Sasuke into her house and closed the door. Well, that was everyone.

In the hallway, Naruto finally stopped arguing with Sai about ramen and grumbled. "Whatever! Let's call it even. How about we play Dance Dance Revolution?"

The fake smile was still plastered on Sai's face, and Savanna wondered how he could maintain one, even if he was in the midst of an argument. "Oh, I don't know, Naruto," he said. "Do you have the balls to go against me?"

_ Making comments like this is kind of fun, _Sammy thought, leaning against the wall. _I think I might continue doing this._

"Hey, Sasukeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeEEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEEeeeeeee eeee!" Ino gushed, waltzing over to the Uchiha. "I haven't seen you in _ages_!"

Sakura twirled over to him as well. "Hi, Sasuke!" she cried with a overly large smile.

"Of course I have the balls, Sai," Naruto said through gritted teeth. "Why would you even ask that?"

"Yeah, of course he does! He's Naruto Uzumaki, after all!" Sammy cried, throwing her arms into the air, even though no one could see her.

"Yeah! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto exclaimed after her, turning around so he could see who said it. Once he realized that he didn't recognize the voice and see anyone he didn't recognize, his eyes turned into white circles. "Wait! Who said that?!"

"I did!" she replied, folding her arms. "Duh."

Naruto froze. "G-g-g-ghost."

Sasuke shrugged out from the two girls' groping and tried to make his way into the living room. "I saw both of you yesterday. Don't act like we didn't see each other for '_ages_'. Now get off of me... You two are annoying."

Ino trailed behind him like a lost puppy, but Sakura remained clinging to his arm. "But, Sasuke," Sakura whined. "We don't ever get to spend much time together."

Sasuke let out a huff of air. "Hn... Not my problem."

Shino continued staring at the dark corner Sammay was in, still not being able to make out anything. Of course, he knew that there was no ghost, but he couldn't sense any chakra over there, which was very unusual...

_What the heck? _Kiba thought. _I didn't recognize that voice. What was that?_

Savanna rested one of her hands on Naruto's shoulder, causing her to freak out a little because he felt so... REAL. "Oh, Naruto," she said. "Don't you worry... There's no ghost."

Meanwhile, Tenten jumped off of the Dance Dance Revolution board and bounced over to Hinata when Ino took off after Sasuke in the middle of the game. "C'mon, Hinata," she urged. "Let's play!"

Hinata shrunk into the couch ever so slightly. "Oh... I don't know..."

Without waiting for her consent, Tenten pulled Hinata up from the couch and led her over to the second board. "It'll be fun! Just try it, okay?"

A small smile formed on Hinata's lips. "Well... Um, okay... If you say so..."

"Nah, I'm a ghost," Sammy said with a shrug.

"She, she, she, just SAID she's a gho-ost!" Naruto trembled, eyeing the corner.

"Yeah, 'cause I am," she said again, trying not to laugh. It was so hard for her to not explode with happiness in that corner. All of this was so exciting and hilarious. And NEJI was out there.

Naruto sat on the floor, curled up into the fetal position, and began rocking back and forth. "Ghost. Ghost. Ghost," he whispered in fear.

"I'm just a ghost. Jeez."

On the other side of the room, Tenten and Hinata battled in a game of Dance Dance Revolution, and Lee watched intently behind them.

"Th-this is fun, Tenten..." Hinata smiled, moving to the beat of the music.

"I know! We should play another game after this one," Tenten replied.

"Can I play? Please? Please?" Lee begged. It looked so fun, and it would definitely be a great way to train!

Sakura clung tighter to Sasuke's arm. "We should hang out sometime!"

Sasuke just grunted, slithering out of her grasp.

Savanna covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. Vibes of joy were emanating from Sammay, and they were definitely affecting Savanna. "Oh, it looks like I was mistaken... It looks like there _is_ a ghost living in my house."

Naruto kept on rocking back and forth. "Ghosts... Ghosts don't live! They're dead!"

Kiba rolled his eyes, not believing for one second that there was an actual ghost in his presence. "Seriously, Naruto. Are you really that stupid to think that there's a ghost in that corner?"

"Shut up, Kiba!" Naruto snapped. "There's a voice coming from there, and I can't see anything, so there OBVIOUSLY is a ghost!"

Kiba bit his tongue in order for him not to bark out a comeback. _What an idiot,_ he thought. _The person over there is probably just hiding her chakra or something._

Sai, having no interest in what was going on in the foyer, wandered off into the kitchen and started making small talk with Choji and Shikamaru, which was probably going to end up disastrous.

Tenten smiled nervously at Lee. "Sure you can, Lee! Just let Hinata and me finish our second game. We're tied right now. And please... Don't get carried away..."

Lee grinned, a sparkle lighting up his perfect teeth. "Of course! Thank you, Tenten!"

Even though Sai couldn't care less, the commotion in front of the doorway peaked Neji's interest (it was mostly Naruto's position on the carpet). Shaking his head at Ino and Sakura clinging to Sasuke, he made his way over to Savanna, who seemed to be the most sensible person in the area at the moment.

Neji's low voice barely penetrated the air, but Savanna could hear him clearly. "What's going on?" he questioned. "Why is Naruto... Like that?" He shot a disapproving glance at the curled-up ninja on the ground.

_ I'm talking to Neji!_ Savanna thought. _When am I ever going to get over the fact that I'm conversing with Naruto characters?_

"Well, Naruto heard an unfamiliar voice in that dark corner over there, but when he looked, he couldn't see anything, so he automatically assumed that the voice came from a ghost," Savanna explained.

_Of course Naruto would think that, _Neji thought. Shaking his head again, he closed his milky eyes for a second and folded his arms. "Utterly ridiculous," he muttered.

"He automatically assumed the truth," Sammy laughed, not being able to resist the urge anymore. "I am a ghost, and I will never leave your sight, Naruto! Even though you won't be able to see me!"

Naruto groaned in agony. "NOOO! Let me be! I'm just an innocent Naruto!" he cried, rocking back and forth at an even quicker rate.

"But that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?" she said with another laugh. "You can consider me your guardian angel!"

Kiba rolled his eyes again. _I know for a fact that this girl is definitely not a ghost,_ he thought. _Naruto's just paranoid._

Hinata and Tenten finished up their level, Hinata winning by just a few points. "Good job, Hinata!" Tenten congratulated.

"Thank you, Tenten," Hinata replied modestly, a small blush on her cheeks. She smiled and sat on the couch again.

"Can I go now?" Lee questioned excitedly, almost to the point where he was jumping up and down.

Tenten sighed. "Yeah. But remember what I said! Don't get carried away!"

"I will not! Do not worry, Tenten!" Lee cried, zipping up to the mat and beginning to scroll through the songs.

"Alright," Tenten said with a fake laugh, just knowing that Lee would be getting extremely competitive.

When Lee found a song to dance along to (The Homework Song), he clicked on it and immediately leaned closer to the TV as he waited for the song to start. His eyes seemed to shoot arrows at the screen, so Tenten facepalmed. _He's totally overreacting,_ she thought.

Every time Sasuke moved to avoid Ino and Sakura, they stuck to him like magnets, so he finally settled to shoving them instead of shrugging away from their grasps. One time, he accidentally shoved Sakura a little too forcefully, making her fall over a chair and onto the ground.

Groaning, Sakura sat up and rubbed her head. "Oww, Sasuke! What was that for?"

"Heh," laughed Ino. "He just likes me a lot better, that's all! Right, Sasukeeeee?"

For the millionth time, Sasuke pushed Ino off of his arm. "Get away from me," he nearly growled.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Sai miraculously didn't insult Choji as he watched said ninja munch on various types of foods. Shikamaru, already extremely bored and tired, lay his head on the table and started to doze off despite the music and the constant hum of conversation in the background.

Neji always had thought that he would somehow get used to Naruto's level of ridiculousness, but the orange shinobi never failed to surprise him- in a negative way. "Naruto, there's no use freaking out about a ghost that's not even real."

Naruto stopped mid-roll and stared at Neji. "Are you kidding me?! The ghost is definitely real. It said it would haunt me!"

Savanna let another laugh escape her as she moved over to Kiba frowning at Naruto. "Kiba, lighten up," she teased. "All of this will be over soon, I promise. You'll see why." She winked.

"Oh, Naruto! Silly goose! I am not going to haunt you! I am going to make your life _paradise_!" Sammy assured, surprisingly having a ton of fun in a dark corner. She was making hand motions and was moving around in the little space she had, even though she knew nobody could see her.

"This so called ghost doesn't seem to want to harm you in any way, Naruto," Neji muttered. "You shouldn't be acting so ridiculous."

"Wouldn't you be scared if some random ghost chick told you she would be your guardian angel?" Naruto whimpered, beginning to roll and rock once more. "It's a lot scarier than you might think."

"Don't be afraid!" Sammy declared. "We will become... best... friends..."

Once Lee's song began, he struggled at first. He had chosen the hardest level, so it looked as if the arrows were moving at the speed of sound. "This is tough, but I will not give up!" he bellowed, and slowly progressed. Tenten watched him with a look of regret.

"Oh, stop it, Sasuke," Ino went on with a flirty tone. "You know you love me!"

"He clearly loves me more," Sakura challenged, standing up. "You know it."

The two girls started to fight over Sasuke, and he grunted at them again, walking into the living room.

"What do you mean?" Kiba asked. "This... person thing has made it clear that she's not staying away from Naruto."

"She's just kidding. You'll see," Savanna assured Kiba. Still confused, he continued watching the unusual scene.

When Sammay mentioned becoming 'best friends' with Naruto, said person burst into tears, startling everyone. "NOO!" he screamed. "The ghost is a STALKER! She's a... a CREEPER!"

Savanna couldn't stand to see him cry, so she rushed over to him and kneeled down. _I never thought that I'd see Naruto cry, _she thought. _Haha... He cries like... Lee._ "Naruto, calm down," she tried to say in a soothing voice. When Naruto kept on bawling, she hesitantly reached out her hands awkwardly, not sure what to do next.

Neji couldn't take it anymore, so he left the foyer and returned to the living room, where he saw Sasuke quickly stalk out of the kitchen. When Sasuke noticed Neji, he approached him, wearing a very frustrated expression on his face.

"If you can do anything to get those horrid creatures away from me," he said with a glance towards Ino and Sakura fighting in the kitchen, "I'd really appreciate it. I wish I had never come to this stupid party."

Neji observed the two divas with a small frown. He was pretty sure things like these didn't happen at other parties. Why did he come, again? "I'm afraid I can't do anything," he replied curtly.

Sasuke gave Neji a small glare, his mood dropping even further. "Tch... Some help you are. Whatever."

After another minute of watching Naruto wet the carpet with his tears, Savanna decided to stop the ghost act. Smiling again, she rose and walked over to Sammay in the corner, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out of the shadows. "Everyone, meet my cousin, Sammay!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**** No, we don't own the show Naruto Shippuden.**

**Banana: Is it possible for me to steal it? :)**

**Sammay: ...Why am I a human?**

**Banana: I don't know, but you should totally be a ninja.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"Waa!" Sammy exclaimed once Banana pulled her from her haven. She wasn't expecting to be revealed like that, and she was surprised from the sudden movement. Once she had calmed herself down a bit, she actually payed attention to her surroundings.

Savanna. Lee. Kiba. Naruto. Shino. Hinata. Tenten. All staring at her. She couldn't stand it, she couldn't talk. So she smiled and waved with her free hand.

"YOU'RE the GHOST?! YOU'RE Savanna's COUSIN?!" Naruto wailed, standing up. Kiba looked at her, smirking. Stupid Naruto. Kiba knew she couldn't be a ghost.

"Yeah," she replied with a laugh. If she wanted to, she could run around the whole world eight times, since the amount of happiness she had gave her enough energy. It was so hard to contain herself.

Sasuke strolled into the foyer, looking extremely unimpressed by everything. The look got even more unimpressed once he saw all of the commotion. _What's going on now?_ he thought, scanning the scene.

Shikamaru raised his head from the table with a raised eyebrow. There seemed to be even more going on in the other room. _How troublesome_, he thought, and rested his head once more. Choji continued chomping, not even paying attention to anything but his precious snacks.

Sai politely chuckled as he peered out of the kitchen. "Hmm... So it looks like Savanna brought her cousin to the Leaf Village."

_Yeah, right,_ thought Savanna. _I didn't bring her here. Some unknown force brought both of us here, but I am SO glad it did!_

When Neji heard Savanna make her declaration, he turned his head to see who her cousin was, curiosity showing in his clear eyes. He quickly noticed that Naruto was no longer curled up on the ground. _Finally,_ he thought. _It's about time he stopped being so humiliating._

Naruto gasped. "But you don't look like a ghost! You look like... a real person!"

Kiba snapped and stomped over to Naruto. "Jeez, Naruto! Can't you see that she's kidding? She's not really a ghost... She's Savanna's cousin!" Savanna confirmed his statement by nodding.

Naruto's eyes widened a little. "Ooohh... That's cool. What was your name again? Oh, yeah... It was Sammay or something. Nice to meet ya, Sammay! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

Savanna fought the urge to laugh when she heard Naruto say 'Sammay' instead of 'Sammy'. "Her real name is Sammy," she pointed out. "But feel free to call her Sammay."

Kiba got a hold of his temper again and stepped back from Naruto. "Naruto can be such an idiot sometimes, so just ignore him. I'm Kiba Inuzuka, by the way."

_I already know all of your names,_ Sammy thought, smiling at everyone. _This is so fun..._ "Hi, Naruto. Hi, Kiba." she greeted, excitement dancing in her eyes.

Lee fled from his game, noting that he would start a new one after he introduced himself. "Hello, Sammy!" he smiled, resting his hands on his hips. "My name is Rock Lee, and it is a pleasure to meet you!"

Sammy smiled back. "Hello, Lee," she said back to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too."

Shikamaru raised his head again. "Sai. What's going on in there?" he questioned, and it clearly showed that he didn't hear Sai's earlier statement.

"It looks like Savanna brought her cousin to the Leaf Village," Sai repeated, after turning away from the doorway to look at the lazy shinobi.

Choji looked up from his feast. "Hm?" he asked with a mouthful of chips. "Hmmrfful?"

"Apparently Savanna's cousin is here," Shikamaru explained, setting his head back in his arms. "What a drag. Another ball of energy."

Lee beamed. "Well, I have a very important matter to attend to, so if you will excuse me, I have to go now." And with that, he zipped over to the Dance Dance Revolution board and resumed his game, focusing all of his energy into following the arrows on the screen.

_Since when was Dance Dance Revolution a very important matter?_ Savanna thought. "Anyway," she said, "why don't we go play after Lee? I have the PERFECT song we can dance along to. We can also do karaoke... It would be fun to sing, too."

As Neji observed the blonde from the couch, he couldn't help but realize that she looked nothing like Savanna even though they were cousins. _She's pretty,_ he thought. _I wonder where she came from._

Still holding on to Sammy's wrist, Savanna pulled her into the living room. Tenten approached both of them with Hinata trailing behind, a smile lighting up her face. "Hi!" she cheerily said. "So you're Savanna's cousin! It's nice to get another sensible girl around here." She cleared her throat and pointedly looked at Ino and Sakura still arguing in the kitchen. "Anyway, you can call me Tenten."

_Darn it,_ Savanna thought. _I was hoping that she would say her last name. Why can't I know her last name?!_

Hinata smiled as well. "A-And I'm Hinata... It's a pleasure to meet you. I... Um... Have a cousin here, too... His name is Neji. He's the one sitting on the couch..."

_I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die,_ Sammy thought. "Hi, Tenten, hi, Hinata," she waved. She then turned to look at the other Hyuga. "Hi, Neji."

_ Keep your cool, Sammy,_ she thought. _Keep. Your. Cool._

"An A plus!" Lee grinned, staring at the screen proudly after he finished another song. "That is good, correct?"

"Yeah, I guess," Kiba replied with a shrug.

"It looks good," Naruto added. "You were on fire!"

Lee continued to beam. "I will take that as a compliment!" He then started a new game without anybody else's consent.

Meanwhile, Ino and Sakura still argued in the kitchen, disturbing Shikamaru. He grunted and tried to ignore them, but it seemed as if they got louder and louder as the moments passed. Right as he was about to put a stop to their yelling, Choji snapped his head and focused his gaze towards the girls.

"Will you two SHUT UP?!" he growled, chucking a bag of chips at the two.

Ino dodged the bag of chips, but Sakura didn't react quickly enough, so the bag hit her on the face and fell on the kitchen floor. Sakura growled. "I wouldn't say anything if I were you, fatso!" she mocked.

Suddenly, all became silent in the kitchen, and Shikamaru face-palmed. An ugly sneer formed on Sakura's face, but Ino covered her mouth, her eyes wide open. Even INO wouldn't go that far...

Choji's jaw nearly dropped to the ground. "What... Did you say?" he asked in a strangely calm tone.

Sakura opened her mouth to repeat her insult, but Ino tackled her to the ground and laughed nervously. "Oh, don't listen to her, Choji," she quickly said. "Sakura hasn't been feeling very well lately. Right, Sakura?" Ino dug her elbow into Sakura's neck, blackmailing her without any words.

All that came out from Sakura's throat were muffled groans. "Mmmffhghhh..."

Savanna very well knew about Sammy's affinity for Neji, so when Sammy greeted Neji, she wanted to start squealing right then and there. _It's so... Cute_!

Neji politely smiled and nodded at Sammy. "It's nice to meet you, Sammy."

Lee, finishing another game with an A plus, pumped one of his fists in the air. "Yes!" he triumphed. "My practice has paid off!"

"Same to you," Sammy replied, smiling as well. _His voice... saying my name!_ she squealed in her thoughts.

"How about we go back into the living room?" Tenten suggested, eyeing the peculiar scene going on in the kitchen. Everyone agreed and followed her back. She nearly fell over once she saw Lee moving at top speed, playing Dance Dance Revolution.

"Yes! Yes! I am winning!" Lee cried with joy, somehow keeping up with the quick arrows. Tenten narrowed her eyes. _This is EXACTLY what Lee said he wouldn't do..._

"Hey, Lee... Savanna and Sammy want to play. Could you finish up that game and let them play a bit?" she asked.

"All right! But only as long as I can play the next game!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Bushy Brow, you're going to have to get off of that game and give other people some turns."

"Yes, I know, but this is too addiciting!"

"And so it begins..." Tenten muttered.

Choji growled at Sakura. "You're off the hook... THIS TIME."

Shikamaru and Ino sighed in relief. Ino was so relieved that she forgot to release Sakura from her grasp, and she suffocated until she went unconscious.

Choji nervously regarded the passed-out Sakura. "Um, Ino...?"

Ino quickly released Sakura from her hands and looked down. "Oh! Oops... I must have been a little too harsh-" A sly grin made it's way into her features as she cut herself off. "...Actually, that might be a good thing. Now, I can get Sasukeeeee all to myself!"

Shikamaru frowned and rested his head back on the table. _Why couldn't anyone be NORMAL for once?_

"But where do we put Sakura?" Choji inquired.

Ino waved him off as her blue eyes scanned the area for Sasuke. "I don't care... Do whatever you want with her. I have to find Sasukeeee!"

Sasuke, hearing his little nickname sung from the kitchen, stiffened and hid behind Savanna. Chuckling, she said, "Don't worry, Sasuke. Sammay's not a fangirl like Ino and Sakura, so she can also help you hide as well." She blatantly avoided the look of surprise Sammy directed her way.

Sasuke eyed Sammy warily. "Are you sure?"

"Well, I'm sure that she's not a fangirl, but I'm not so sure that she'll protect you..."

Sighing, Sasuke finally settled to wedging himself between Kiba and Neji on the couch. Lee, finishing with yet another A plus, leaped off of the board so Savanna and Sammy could play against each other. "Alright," he said. "You two may play!"

Savanna would never get used to Lee's unique personality. Quickly, she climbed onto one of the boards. "I know what song we should dance to," she said with a smirk. "How about Professa Layton's theme song?"

"Oh, yeah! I love Professa Layton," Sammy smiled, stepping onto the second board. Banana scrolled through the songs and chose the theme song for 'Professor Layton' once it came up. After they started playing, a thought came to Sammy. "Hey, Banana... we should make Sasuke speak with an English accent."

Sasuke glanced up and looked at her. "Excuse me?"

"You would sound exactly like Clive!" Sammy cried with joy, still managing to keep up with all of the arrows.

Before Sasuke could reply, Ino's voice could be heard again. "SASUKEEEEEEEE!"

The said person shot his gaze towards the doorway leading into the kitchen. He sunk down further into the couch, hoping that the fashionista couldn't get to him.

Ino skipped inside of the living room, looking as cheerful as ever. "Oh, Sasukeeee! Ino's here! Hey, where is he?"

Kiba and Neji were apparently hiding the raven haired boy pretty well if Ino, of all people, couldn't see him. Sasuke mentally sighed in relief. _I'm safe for now, _he thought.

"He's right there." Sammy pointed towards the boy with an innocent smile.

In the kitchen, Choji stared at Sakura's body, sprawled out on the tile. "What are we gonna DO?" he asked Shikamaru, acting like there was a corpse he had to hide instead of an unconscious girl.

"Just leave her there," Shikamaru grumbled. "We didn't do anything wrong, and she'll come to her senses at some point."

"B-b-but she... we need to hide her!" Choji wailed, wobbling up to Sakura and dragging her towards a cupboard by her feet. He threw open the cupboard door and somehow shoved her body in there, shutting the door quickly afterwards.

He sighed in relief. "Awesome. Now that's taken care of..." Choji trailed off and then flung himself towards the table of food once more.

Sasuke's dark eyes shot daggers at Sammay as Ino pranced over to Kiba and started tugging on his arm. "Kiba, move over and let me sit next to Sasukeeee!"

Planting his feet on the carpet, Kiba remained in his seat. "No way, Ino. Can't you see that Sasuke _doesn't like you at all?_"

Hurt flashed over Ino's features for just a second, but it was gone in the next instant. She huffed out a puff of air. "Of course he likes me," she retorted. "I'm beautiful!"

Sasuke directed his glare towards Ino. "As much as I don't like to say this," he began, "Kiba is right. _I don't like you_. Tch... You're annoying."

Ignoring Sasuke, Ino started tugging on Kiba's arm harder. "C'mon, Kiba! Move!"

Savanna and Sammay miraculously finished the game with a tie, both of them having nearly perfect scores. "Good job, Sammay," Savanna congratulated. _Why did you give Sasuke away?_

Lee zipped up to Savanna, bouncing with excitement. "You are finished, right? May I play now?"

"I'm sorry, Lee," Savanna apologized. "I'm actually planning to turn on the karaoke machine right now. You can play afterwards, though."

"Oh... Alright, then. At least I will be able to play eventually!" Tenten, paying attention to Lee, shook her head again.

"Thanks. You, too," Sammy congratulated Banana as well. _I don't know, I felt like it, _she thought back with a mental laugh. I'll do something to stop this, though... I guess.

"Ino. INO," Sammy urged, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from Kiba and Sasuke. Ino looked at Sammy with a strange look.

"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" she asked curiously. She hadn't seen Sammy nor had she introduced herself.

Sammy hesitated. _Oops,_ she thought. "Oh. Good question," she said, letting go of her arm. "I'm Savanna's cousin, and I know your name because I know everything."

"Oh. Well, hi. I'm Ino Yamanaka." She smiled, and then spun around to interrogate Kiba with the same phrase; MOVE.

"Ino! Ino!" Sammy tried to yank her off of the poor dog boy again, but she seemed to be magnetically attracted to him.

"I can't do anything more," Sammy mumbled, walking away and towards her cousin again.

Naruto stood up and followed Sammy, just as an excuse to talk to his crush. "Hey, Savanna," he said. "What'cha doin'?"

Savanna laughed at Sasuke's very troubled facial expression and then turned to Naruto when he addressed her. _Oh my gosh,_ she thought. _I know that a lot of characters, including Naruto, have already said my name multiple times, but it seems so unreal! We really are living in our own role play, Sammay... This is heaven! _"Hey, Naruto," she said. Just saying his name filled her with happiness. "I'm about to turn on the karaoke machine so Sammay and I can sing... And other people, if they would like."

"What the heck, Ino!" Kiba exclaimed. "You're only like this when you're around Sasuke! You're so oblivious to his feelings of hatred... Now cut it out!"

Finally giving up with yanking at Kiba's arm, Ino ran over to the person on Sasuke's other side: Neji. She didn't know Neji very well, but if there was a chance that he would move so she could sit next to Sasuke, she would gladly take it. "Neji, won't you please move over for me?" she purred.

Just by listening to her tone of voice, Savanna felt like gagging, and Neji exhibited a very similar feeling. Looking at her blankly in the eye, he responded with, "No, Ino."

With every passing minute, Choji felt increasingly more guilty about stuffing Sakura into one of the kitchen cabinets just because he was such a warm-hearted person. His eyebrows crinkled together slightly as he started poking Shikamaru in the arm.

After a few seconds, Shikamaru finally stirred (he actually had fallen asleep this time) and lazily raised his head. "What do you want, Choji?"

Choji swallowed his mouthful of chips nervously. "Well... I know that Sakura isn't a very nice person most of the time, but I still think I shouldn't have pushed her into that cupboard over there. Maybe I can take her out and, you know... Put her on one of Savanna's beds or something...?"

Shikamaru remained unimpressed. "Do what you want, Choji. Just don't kill her or anything." With that, he proceeded to fall back into a light slumber.

Choji, still in the same predicament, slowly rose from the table and returned to the cabinet he stuffed Sakura into before. However, when he opened it, he found nothing inside but the smell of damp air, so his eyes widened. "Uh... Shikamaru?" he hesitantly asked. "She's gone!"

Shikamaru didn't move an inch. "Mmmm."

"SHIKAMARU! She's GONE!" Choji sputtered, shutting the cabinet door and opening it again, just to make sure he was seeing correctly. Once he saw the empty cupboard once more, he screamed and poked his head inside, not finding one way to escape, besides the door. She couldn't have escaped through the door without Choji seeing, though!

"I LOST A CORPSE!" he wailed in agony, shutting the door yet again and opening it. Nothing.

"Choji. Be quiet, would you?" Shikamaru mumbled, still half asleep. "She couldn't have gone far..."

"...I still lost her! I'm DOOMED..."

"Oh, that's cool," Naruto grinned. "I don't think I'll sing, though. I'm not a singer... I bet you'll sound amazing, though."

Sammy eyed Ino. "Don't you talk to him like that..." she whispered, so quietly that no one could hear. She snapped out of her trance after a second and payed attention to the thought Banana had just passed to her. _Yeah, this is heaven!_

Ino looked at him for a moment before bobbing her head up and down. "Yeah, okay, that's fine." She laughed nervously and flew back over to Kiba.

"Ino, I won't move," Kiba repeated. Why won't she listen?

"Just leave me alone," Sasuke grumbled, folding his arms. "You're annoying."

Ino sighed dramatically. "But, Sasukeeeeee... I can't ever leave you alone! You and I are meant for each other! Plus, you're totally hawwtt!"

Frustrated, Kiba rested his head against the back of the couch, watching the ridiculous scene with lowered eyelids. _When is this ever going to end?_

_Do you think Sasuke will get permanent wrinkles on his face from frowning and glaring so much?_ Savanna jokingly thought. "We are definitely not meant for each other," Sasuke stressed. "I would say that we're nothing more than friends, but we're not even acquaintances."

_ Ouch,_ Kiba thought. _That must have hurt._ Shifting his attention to Ino, his suspicions were confirmed. Tears wallowed up in her eyes, threatening to overflow. For once, instead of insisting about being with Sasuke, she ran over to Tenten and threw her arms around said kinoichi.

Sasuke finally stopped glaring and rested his head in his hands. "Finally," he muttered.

_Did Naruto just compliment me?_ Savanna thought. _Wow... He did! I want to squeal... Eeeee!_ The fangirl in her was dangerously close to showing itself on the outside, but Savanna fought to maintain it on the inside. Smiling, she said, "Thanks, Naruto... I don't know if I'm that good at singing, though."

When Savanna noticed that Ino had stopped pestering Sasuke, she turned to Tenten for a second. "It looks like Sasuke hurt Ino pretty badly," she observed.

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Oh, this is nothing. This always happens... Sasuke always gets to the point where he feels like he's about to explode, and then he says some really bad insult. Then, Ino always comes crying to me, but sooner or later, she'll go back to bugging Sasuke again." Ino, too busy sniffling, couldn't hear Tenten's explanation.

Savanna nodded and turned back to Naruto, turning on the karaoke machine so she could scroll through the songs. "I wouldn't think that you would be the singing type, Naruto..."

Naruto shook his head and chuckled. "Nah. Singing's not really my thing. You'd be good at it."

Standing next to the two, Sammy watched Ino with a slightly raised eyebrow. _How can she like Sasuke? _she thought. _He's so... ew... Neji's much, much better._

Lee, who had zoned himself out from everyone else, was practicing his moves in a corner of the living room. Kiba saw him from his spot on the couch and watched with narrowed eyes. Neji noticed the Inuzuka looking at something on the far side of the room and followed his gaze, eventually ending up looking at his crazy teammate as well.

_ Ridiculous._

"Left, right, top! Left, bottom! Bottom and top... AT THE SAME TIME!" Lee narrated a game of Dance Dance Revolution, his feet mimicking his words. "Yes! An A plus-plus-plus-plus! Plus!"

...Shino stood in the exact same spot he was in before.

Internally giggling, Savanna remembered when she watched Naruto sing the 'Froggy Song' with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu. That was an example of why Naruto probably didn't sing, if he usually sounded like that when he sang...

"I sure hope so," Savanna wishfully said. "I have an unlimited list of songs on here. I know that sounds really hard to believe, but name any song, and it will be on here." She winked.

"Oooooh. Really?" questioned Naruto.

"Yeah." A few seconds later, Savanna stopped scrolling through the songs when she found 'Utakata Hanabi', which she knew as Naruto Shippuden ending 14. It was absolutely her most favorite ending ever to any anime, not just Naruto Shippuden. "Oh my gosh! I love this ending-" Quickly, before Savanna could give anything else away, she closed her mouth, effectively cutting herself off.

Naruto's expression of awe morphed into a puzzled one. "Ending...?"

Savanna laughed nervously and waved him off. "Oh, it's nothing... I didn't mean to say that. I meant to say that it's my favorite song!" Before waiting for Naruto's response, she clicked the play button and the song started playing. _That was a close one, _she thought.

While Savanna sang the words to Utakata Hanabi, Kiba, assuming that it was safe for Sasuke if he got up, rose from the couch and entered the kitchen, wondering if there was any meat mixed in with the various foods. When he took in the sight of Choji nervously gnawing at a sandwich, he asked said ninja what was bothering him.

"It's horrible," Choji replied. "Sakura passed out, and I stuffed her into that cabinet over there, but then I felt guilty, so I went over there and opened it again..."

Kiba laughed, showing off his long incisors. "That's nothing to be ashamed of! Sakura deserved it, so be proud of yourself."

Choji remained anxious. "But that's not the real problem here," he explained. "When I opened the cabinet again, _she wasn't in there anymore_."

Kiba looked at Choji for a minute and then chuckled. "Good. That ugly barnacle needed to go."

Choji stared at Kiba, mid-bite. "Are you serious?! I lost her! Nobody understands my pain!" he howled, shoving the rest of the sandwich into his mouth. Somehow, Shikamaru stayed sound asleep the whole time.

"You shouldn't worry. At least she's gone. Her looks were making my eyes burn... that little pink ball of ugly is like an onion."

Naruto and Sammy cheered once Banana's number ended. "That was awesome, Savanna! Good job!" Naruto congratulated.

"Yeah! That was fantabulous." Sammy laughed, giving her cousin a high-five.

Ino peeled herself off of Tenten and sniffled. "Hey, Kiba moved!" she giggled, sashaying over to Sasuke and sitting down, immediately wrapping her arms around his neck. Sasuke pushed her off, but she went right back.

"That girl is impossible..." Tenten said, shaking her head.

_I hate Kiba. I hate Kiba. I hate Kiba,_ Sasuke vehemently thought. Even though he continued to shove Ino off of him, she kept on zipping back to him like a rubber band held them together.

After the fifteenth time, Ino nuzzled her face into Sasuke's neck, earning an exasperated sigh from Neji. "Isn't this great, Sasukeeeee? We get to be alone like this..."

Trying to get the awful image of Ino pressed against him out of his mind, Sasuke closed his eyes. "We're. Not. Alone," he said through gritted teeth.

Ino giggled. "Oooh, is that an invitation I hear? Do you want to go upstairs where we can be _truly_ alone?"

"_No way._"

Savanna handed the microphone to Sammy and winked. "Thanks, you guys! Sammay, why don't you choose a song to sing along to? I know that you're a stunning singer."

A grin lit up Kiba's complexion when he finally found some ham and cheese bagels at the end of the long wooden table. However, instead of eating the entire thing, he picked out the ham and ate the meat all by itself. "Oh, this hits the spot."

Pondering about Sakura for a moment, Choji nodded after a minute. "Hmmm... I guess you're right, Kiba. Sakura is probably my least favorite person I know. I mean..." He paused for a second, letting her statement sink into his mind. "...She did call me... a fatso."

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Don't let that get to you, man. It's Sakura we're talking about. Since when has listening to whatever she's said done any good for us?"

"Never," Choji admitted. "Good point."

"And since when has her ugly barnacle looks done anything good for us?" Kiba went on, eating another piece of ham.

"Never," Choji repeated. "She is pretty freaking ugly, man."

"Oh, stahp." Sammy laughed, taking the microphone from Banana. She then scrolled through the millions of songs and eventually saw the one she was looking for—Bluebird.

The song began playing and Sammy recited the words in song, of course.

"Oh, don't deny your love for me," Ino purred. "You don't have to hide it. Sakura's not here, anyway... it won't matter!"

Sasuke clawed her off of him for thousandth time. "I do not, under any circumstances have a good feeling of ANY sort for you," Sasuke growled, standing up. "Go. Away."

Ino shook her head. "Denial."

Sasuke felt like ripping the spikes from his raven-colored hair out. He wasn't one to speak often, however, so instead of barking out a comeback, he stalked away from Ino as quickly as he could.

Immediately, Ino sprang up from the couch and gravitated towards him. "Heh... You didn't say you didn't love me, Sasukeeee! Don't deny it... I know you do! Come back!"

As soon as Sammy started singing Blue Bird, Neji lifted his bored gaze from the ground and rested it on the pretty blonde he saw earlier. Transfixed, he listened to every single note she sang, marveling at her perfect voice. _It... It sounds really beautiful,_ he thought. _I'm aware that her name is Sammy, but that's all I know about her..._

After Sammy finished singing the wonderful song, Neji rose from the couch and urgently made his way over to Savanna standing nearby, conversing with Naruto. When he lightly tapped her shoulder, he cut off Naruto in the middle of his sentence, but he didn't really care at the moment.

The corners of Naruto's mouth slightly curved down as Savanna directed her attention to the Hyuga. "Yes, Neji?" she politely asked.

"I noticed that your cousin just sang," he stated. "Where is she from?"

_He almost seems dazed_, Savanna thought with a smile. "She's from a place far away," she answered. "She's not from the Leaf Village." _I'll leave it to you to tell him where you're really from, Sammay,_ she thought.

Suddenly, Savanna froze and frowned. _Oh, crap,_ she thought. _My room probably has Naruto posters set up all over the room... I have to take them down before anyone sees! _Leaving Naruto frowning and Neji still wondering about Sammy, she bolted up the stairs, running towards her room.

Sammy's mental jaw dropped to the floor. _Neji thinks I'm pretty, AND that my singing sounds good? Alright, I'm definitely hallucinating. I'm dreaming. This isn't possible, _she thought, shaking her head and setting the microphone on the couch while making her way towards the kitchen.

Naruto watched Savanna hightail it out of the main room. _Where's she going? _he thought, and then shrugged.

"Can I play Dance Dance Revolution now?!" Lee asked excitedly, and didn't even wait for an answer before rushing over to the TV and turning the game on. He stepped onto the board and quickly chose the hardest level and a song. His legs began moving at a high speed once the arrows began popping up on the screen.

Sasuke's eye twitched in annoyance as he fast-walked into the kitchen, immediately diving under the table, attempting to hide from the Yamanaka following him. Once she zipped into the room, she glanced around, not seeing her love anywhere.

"He just came in here, right? I swear I just saw him come in here," Ino asked urgently, eyeing every boy in the room. Each one that was awake shook their heads, even though it was clear that he did, in fact, run in.

"You guys are trustworthy. I believe you. Tell me if you see him!" Ino chirped, skipping out of the kitchen while calling Sasuke's name.

"Is she gone?" Sasuke's voice questioned from under the table.

"Yep," Kiba answered, popping a piece of barbecue meat into his mouth. "But you should probably stay under there, or try to find another hiding spot."

"Well, duh," Sasuke answered in an annoying tone. "I wouldn't be so stupid as to wander out in the open and wait for that pig to molest me."

Kiba was used to those kinds of comments Sasuke made, so he just rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just be careful, because I'm not covering you again if Ino finds out where you are."

When Sammy entered the kitchen, Choji's eyes shifted to said person. "Hey... Kiba, who's she?"

Turning around, Kiba took in the sight of Sammy and smirked. "Hey... Oh. Choji, this is Savanna's cousin, Sammy."

Trying one of the ham and cheese bagels Kiba picked up, Choji smiled. "Hi, Sammy! Nice to meet you! I'm Choji Akimichi, and the person sleeping in front of me in Shikamaru. Don't be surprised... He's always like that."

"Yeah," Kiba agreed. "She's... Uh. Wait. Are you just visiting, or are you living here?"

Back in the living room, Neji started pacing back and forth ever so slightly, still thinking about Savanna's cousin until Naruto's voice jarred him from his deep thinking. "Jeez, Neji," said Naruto. "You don't just go and interrupt people's conversations! My conversation with Savanna was very important."

Neji's facial expression told Naruto that he didn't believe what he said for one second. "Well, I interrupted you because of a very important reason."

Luckily, Savanna didn't find anyone in her room when she opened the door. It looked exactly like her room in her normal house, like she imagined... It was further proof that she was somehow experiencing her role play. Letting out a relieved sigh, he took off her Naruto posters from her walls as quickly as she could, stuffing them under her bed (not wrinkling them, of course). Walking out of her room and down the hallway, she froze in place when she saw Sai in the bathroom holding a bottle of lotion.

"Um... Sai?" she inquired, trying not to laugh. _Why did Sai come up here? _she wondered.

Of course, Sai never blushed, so he looked at her with his fake smile. "Oh... Sorry. Excuse me. Your lotion smells very nice."

Savanna started cracking up on the inside, but she didn't let it show, which was very difficult. "Yes, it does..."

Sai nodded and set the bottle back onto the counter. "Its scent is very distinct," he remarked, not quite sure of how to act in this situation.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Oh, yeah? Sammy?" he asked mockingly, clearly not afraid of Neji. He had nothing against Sammy, but he wanted to know what the big deal was with the Hyuga.

"Hi, Choji. It's nice to meet you, too, and as you've heard, I'm Sammy," she said with a smile, and then turned to face Kiba. "And that's a good question..."

Kiba watched as Sammy made her way over to the ham and cheese bagels. She picked one up, tore a piece off and popped it into her mouth. "What do you mean? You don't know if you're staying or not?"

Sammy shrugged and swallowed. "Yeah. It's a bit complicated."

He nodded, wondering where she was from in the first place. For some reason, she seemed... different. But not in a bad way. She was unique.

"Yes," Neji confirmed. "It is Sammy, and I'm fairly certain that it's much more important than the conversation you were having with Savanna." Meeting Naruto's stare with one of his own, Neji silently challenged Naruto to defy him.

Of course, Naruto immediately retorted. "No way," he said. "My conversation was wayyy more important!" Folding his arms, Neji didn't want to waste any more energy on arguing with Naruto, so he fell silent.

Savanna could sense Sai's awkwardness, so she politely nodded and proceeded to continue down the stairs, still wondering what the heck he was doing there in the first place. As she reached the bottom step, she nearly ran into Ino, who was still frantically searching for Sasuke.

"Oh, Savanna," Ino cried. "Please help me... I can't find my Sasukeeee! Did he hide somewhere? Did he leave the party?"

Savanna remembered that Sasuke hid under the long table in the kitchen. However, she liked Sasuke, so she wasn't going to lead him to his doom by giving him away to Ino. Sadly, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Ino... I haven't seen him. Did you check upstairs?"

"Nope," Ino replied, "but I'm going there right now!" Without mentioning anything else, she zipped up the steps and disappeared down the hallway. When Savanna stopped to listen for a moment, she could hear a faint, "SAS-... Oh! It's just you, Sai. What are you doing in her bedroom?"

Laughing softly, Savanna returned to Naruto's side in the living room. _I can't believe that a Naruto character is in my ACTUAL room. I have a feeling that I should think it's creepy, but it's just... so... cool!_

Naruto turned to look at Savanna. "Neji thinks Sammy is more important than our conversation!" he said with a tone that told Savanna he clearly thought Neji's opinion was incorrect.

Sasuke heard Ino's desperate cries for him from under the table, and he stiffened just at the sound of her voice calling his name. She was so unbelievably annoying.

Choji continued to munch on the bagel. "So are you and Savanna close?" he asked.

Sammy nodded. "Mmhmmm. Indeed, we are."

Shikamaru stirred in his sleep and actually sat up. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, and after he had done that he spotted Sammy. "You must be Savanna's cousin."

"Mmhmmm. Indeed I am," she replied with the same tone of voice he used in her last statement. She popped another piece of her bagel into her mouth. "And you must be Shikamaru."

Shikamaru blinked, a quizzical expression making its way onto his face. "Yeah... But how did you know that?"

Savanna directed a knowing smile at Neji. "Although I do say our conversation was _very_ important, Naruto," she began, "if Neji thinks what he did was important, then it must be important."

Pursing his lips ever so slightly, Naruto responded with, "It was just Sammy... What's so important about that?"

_Everything,_ Savanna smugly replied in her mind.

Lee, noticing that the karaoke machine was free, picked up the microphone and started scrolling through the songs, finally choosing "On My Own" from Les Mis. As soon as the song started, Savanna whirled around so she could see for herself that she still wasn't dreaming. Even when she took in the sight of Lee with that song on the screen, she couldn't help herself from rubbing her eyes and looking again.

"I love this song," Savanna said dreamily. Was Lee actually going to pull this off?

Sammy jabbed a thumb towards the ninja sitting next to Shikamaru. "Choji told me," she explained, even though she already knew Shikamaru's name, anyway. Suddenly, Les Mis music could be heard. "...I hear music I like."

At that, Sammy ran out of the kitchen and into the living room, still holding her bagel. "Les Mis! I hear it!" she announced, taking a bite. Once she saw Neji in the room, she blushed a bit, remembering what he thought before.

"What the heck is Les Mis?" Naruto asked after hearing Sammy.

Lee began singing, his voice wavering off tune a couple of times.

"What's up with her?" Shikamaru asked when he observed the girl run out of the kitchen after seeming to recognize the song that was playing in the other room. He didn't recognize it.

"I dunno," Kiba replied. "But it seems like she knows more than she's telling us. Don't you think?"

Choji nodded. "Yeah... like she's hiding something..."

Kiba thought about it for a moment. "I don't know," he concluded.

"I don't know, either," Shikamaru admitted.

_Aw, man, _Kiba thought. _If Shikamaru doesn't know, then Sammy must be pretty good at hiding secrets._

Under the table, Sasuke's neck started to cramp up, but he was willing to endure that if it meant that he wouldn't be discovered by a certain crazy blonde. Listening to everything around him, he focused his attention on Sai when he entered the kitchen.

Awkwardly, Sai raised one of his hands in what was probably supposed to be a wave. "Hello," he greeted. "How are you guys doing?"

Not even responding, Shikamaru lay his head back down on the table, and Choji muttered something unintelligible, for his mouth was full of chips. Kiba warily regarded Sai as he waved back normally. "Uh, hey. I'm doing good..."

Sai put on his trademark fake smile. "I see... That's nice." He paused for a moment, increasing the awkward mood that filled the room. "I haven't seen Sasuke for a while. Where has he gone?"

_ Why can't Sai just act like a normal human being for once?_ Kiba thought with a sigh. "He's under the table hiding from Ino," he replied.

Sasuke started inwardly cursing at Kiba... again. _You idiot, Kiba! I've never trusted Sai, and you just blew my cover._

Instead of a response like 'I see', Sai suddenly squealed and jumped up and down in little circles, causing Kiba to stumble back and hit the wall. "What the heck, man?!" he cried out surprisingly.

As quickly as this strange behavior occurred, Sai abruptly stopped and held one of his hands to his forehead, swaying a little bit. "What... What happened...?"

Sasuke proceeded to hit his forehead on the floor repeatedly while everyone in the kitchen stared at Sai, almost afraid to break the silence. However, everything became clear when they could hear faint, fast footsteps from above become increasingly louder as Ino sprinted down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"HA!" she yelled, making everyone jump. "I found you, Sasukeeeeee!" Before anyone could react, she dove under the table.

Meanwhile, in the main room, Neji couldn't help himself, so he slowly approached Sammay until he was standing next to her. "You're a very good singer," he complemented.

Hearing Naruto's question, Savanna answered with a smug, "Oh, it's just the best story/musical/movie ever written... That's all."

"I've never heard if it," Naruto said, crinkling his eyebrows together.

_I would be very, very surprised if you did, Naruto, _Savanna thought. "Really?" she asked, adding mock surprise to her voice. "You're totally missing out! We can watch it together sometime. Then you'll see how amazing Les Mis is."

"Okay," Naruto agreed. "It sounds pretty sad, since Lee's singing about being alone."

Sammy blinked. "Oh. Thanks..." she said back to him. _Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh._

Sasuke scrambled to get out from under the table and got out right before Ino pounced on him. He glared at Kiba and then ran out of the kitchen, into the living room and behind Savanna again.

"How would I know that it was INO asking us instead of Sai?!" Kiba asked himself. Sai began to rub his temples, wondering what happened to him. Shikamaru closed his eyes, trying not to get involved in the whole situation. Ino squealed again and came out from under the table.

"Sasuke! Stop running!" she giggled, skipping out from the kitchen and into the living room. Sasuke grimaced at Ino's mood. Why him?

"Ooh, Sasukeeeeee!" Ino sang, jumping up and down in her place. "You can't hide for long!"

"That girl... could she be any more annoying?" Choji shook his head, grabbing another sandwich and taking a bite. "Why won't she leave the poor guy alone?"

"He is most definitely not a poor guy," Kiba rolled his eyes. "He's an arrogant jerk. He deserves to be pestered like that!"

"When were you so against Sasuke?" Choji asked.

"Since forever. I protected him two times and then he glared at me when I didn't even know it was Ino."

"Well, it IS Sasuke," Choji pointed out.

Kiba nodded. "Hmph. True... But still. He has no reason to get mad at me."

Even though this wasn't the first time Choji had thought of this, he started to wonder if Sasuke was emo.

"It is sad," said Savanna. "The entire story is so sad, but it's amazing..."

The entire room erupted in applause when Lee finished singing. Very formally, he bowed. "Thank you, thank you!" he said as he blew kisses to nobody in particular.

When Savanna noticed Sasuke almost cowering behind her, she smirked. "So, Ino found you again, didn't she, Sasuke?"

Sasuke silently warned Savanna with his dark eyes. "Don't say my name so loudly. I just can't find a good hiding spot without eventually being discovered by that maniac. I know Sakura isn't annoying me like she normally would, but this isn't much better."

"I totally get you," she sympathized. "I told everyone to wear swimsuits under their clothes because we're going to go swimming, and probably very soon... Maybe you could hide from Ino in the pool...?" _Wow, Savanna, she thought to herself. That suggestion was kind of stupid._

Sasuke's facial expression told her that he was probably agreeing with her thoughts. "Are you serious?" he asked with one eyebrow raised.

Savanna shrugged. "Why not? It's that, or you can leave the party. But if you leave, nobody will help you after that..."

"You're welcome," Neji replied. "So you're Savanna's cousin... Where are you from?"

Sammy debated on whether she should tell him the whole truth or not, and then went with her gut. "I live in a place really far away. _Really_ far away... it's called Utah," she explained, examining the last bit of her bagel and then popping it into her mouth.

"I'm just sticking with these hiding spots..." Sasuke muttered, definitely not wanting to hide in the pool, of all places.

Ino searched around the room, but somehow didn't find him. She bolted upstairs to see if she could find him, once again. "Sasuke! Oh, Sasuke! Come out, come out, wherever you are, Sasukeee!"

"Thank goodness," Sasuke mumbled after he watched Ino twirl up the stairs.

Naruto looked at Lee. "Have you even heard of that song?"

"No," Lee replied with a bright smile, and then began running in place for no apparent reason.

Choji rolled his eyes, able to hear Ino's flirty voice from the kitchen. Sure, he was used to her annoying and gushy mood when Sasuke was around, but honestly. "Yeah. How can Ino not see that he doesn't like her? Sakura, too, but... she kind of disappeared..."

Sai looked at Choji. "Where did she go?"

Choji shrugged. "I dunno," he answered, shoving a handful of chips into his mouth. "I put her into that cabinet over there, and once I opened it again a few minutes later, she was gone."

Sai walked over to the cabinet Choji had motioned to and pulled open the door, staring blankly at the nothingness that sat inside. "That's strange. I wonder where she went."

"At least she's gone," Kiba chuckled. "That girl's annoying. Hopefully, she won't come back."

"Why do you not like Sakura?" Sai innocently questioned.

Kiba and Choji stared at Sai like he was the most oblivious person in the world. Well, he kind of was...

"First of all, she's really rude," Kiba pointed out. "Isn't she rude to you, Sai?"

Sai rubbed his chin for a moment, his eyes wandering to the ceiling thoughtfully. Finally, he met Kiba's weirded-out gaze. "Yeah, I guess," he finally agreed. "I don't really mind, though."

Kiba's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but he dropped the subject. _Jeez... Sai's so strange, _he thought.

Hesitantly, Neji repeated the foreign word in his head. _Utah? Utah._ Of course, he had never heard of that place in his life. He had studied the world map extensively, consequently memorizing the names and locations of all of the places existing in the shinobi world, so it was very difficult for him to even grasp the truth that Utah was a place. If Neji hadn't just met Sammy, he would have immediately denied that such a place existed. However, he was being polite since he took a liking to her, so he just nodded.

"Alright. Do as you wish, Sasuke," said Savanna. "While you go and hide, everyone will be having fun in the pool!"

Sasuke's countenance didn't change even in the slightest bit. "Hn. Who cares?"

Despite Sasuke's attitude, Savanna couldn't stop herself from smiling. Sasuke was just so... predictable sometimes. In fact, she had been smiling almost nonstop since the unknown, wonderful force brought her and Sammy into the Naruto world. Every single second, she drank in the characters' features and admired them... Her mind was still trying to accept the fact that she was there!

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Savanna quickly took a hold of Naruto's wrist, again sending chills down her spine. "I did tell everyone to wear their swimsuit under their clothes. You did bring yours, right?"

Naruto nodded. "Of course! How could I forget?" he asked. "It's your party, after all!"

Sammy frowned slightly, taking in Neji's thoughts. She knew convincing him wouldn't be easy. "I know you don't believe me," she started, "but trust me on this one. And probably many more, in that case..."

"How can you not mind?" Choji asked in bewilderment. "She's vicious and annoying..."

Sai shrugged. "I'm not quite sure. Sakura isn't that bad, is she?"

"YES," everyone said in unison, even Shikamaru. Then, he blinked once and settled down once more to try to get back to sleep.

Sai paused. "Oh. Alright, then."

Sasuke overheard the conversation in the other room and actually agreed with them for once. Sakura was a truly horrid and disgusting person.

"Anyway," Naruto went on, "when are we going to go in the pool?"

Lee pumped his fist a few feet away, listening to their conversation. "Yes! Swimming will be a great way to train and to become a better ninja!"

"Then let's just go right now," Savanna decided. _It's our role play, right, Sammy? We can control it... _Pulling Naruto towards the back door, she called out, "The pool is open!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: We are not Masashi Kishimoto, so we don't own Naruto Shippuden.**

**Banana: Everything Japanese is so cute! :D**

**Sammay: I don't know what to say, so... uh... let the chapter begin...?**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Kiba's head perked up as soon as she yelled out those words. Running towards the door with a grin on his face, he shouted, "I'm so in!"

Lazily lifting his head from the table, Shikamaru regarded Savanna with heavy-lidded eyes. "Is there a hot tub?"

_Uhh. Sure!_ "Yep!" Savanna excitedly replied. "Come on... Why don't you get some fresh air? The weather's perfect." As she let go of Naruto's wrist, said person and Kiba raced each other to the door and disappeared outside, whooping the entire time.

Lee let out a cry of despair. "No! I will not let Naruto and Kiba beat me into the pool!" Jumping off of the Dance Dance Revolution board, he zipped out the back door.

"C'mon, Shikamaru!" Choji begged. "Let's go swimming... We brought our swimsuits, anyway. At least just go in the hot tub."

After a few seconds, Shikamaru sighed and rose from the table. "Well, only for a little bit..."

_How did she know that I didn't believe her?_ wondered Neji. _Everyone tells me that I can keep the blankest expression._ "Alright," he consented.

Giving Neji and Sammy a knowing look, Savanna quickly followed Lee's footsteps out the door and into the backyard, taking off her clothes in he process so she could swim with her blue tankini underneath.

Choji cheered and dragged the sleepy Shikamaru out the back door after all of the others. Sai followed them awkwardly.

"Did I just hear...pool?" Ino whispered as she searched the upstairs area. She smiled brightly and bolted down the staircase, right past the bored Sasuke. "I wonder if Sasukeeee will be out there!" The blonde threw open the door and ran outside, taking her clothes off in the process, and eventually so she was only wearing a bright pink bikini. "Ohh, Sasukeeee! I'm here! And Sakura's not! Where are you?"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Naruto chanted after changing out of his orange jumpsuit. Kiba had done the same, and both of them were just standing there, chanting, waiting for Savanna to be ready to swim.

Sammy laughed. "Because... I know a lot." She smiled, already revealing that she could somehow read minds by just saying that simple statement. "Anyway, let's go outside." She, just because he couldn't help herself anymore, grabbed Neji's hand and tugged him outside. When she did so, she inwardly screamed her head off, but she still kept her calm and laid-back expression. Once the two stepped outside, Sammy reluctantly dropped Neji's hand and stripped down to reveal a simple purple one-piece, tied at the neck.

Tenten and Hinata also walked out, already wearing their swimsuits. _They must've gone somewhere to change,_ Sammy thought. _Or something like that. I don't know. _

Savanna almost stopped mid-step when her emerald eyes rested on Naruto and Kiba. Sure, she had seen Naruto shirtless many times before, but that didn't stop her from admiring the way his lean body looked. And that only worsened when she looked at Kiba, because she had never seen Kiba without a shirt on in the anime. The fact that she basically had a crush on them didn't help _at all._

Trying to hide her blush, she changed the direction of her stride so she was walking toward the hot tub instead of towards the two boys. _Phew... That was risky,_ Savanna thought. _I was dangerously close to fangirling. Like, fangirling out loud. I'm still really close, but I think I can control myself... _

A few seconds later, she turned her head to the right when the sound of a nearby splash interrupted her thoughts. Naruto had hopped into the hot tub after seeing that Savanna was heading towards there. No, it definitely _did not_ help Savanna calm down when she met his vibrant blue eyes, his cute grin...

When Sammy said that she knew a lot, Neji just assumed that she could read through his expressionless mask that one time. _I was unusually caught off guard, _Neji thought. _My feelings of confusion probably leaked into my countenance... That's all. _

While he was contemplating, he absentmindedly took off his Hyuga clan robe, showing a pair of gray trunks underneath. Observing the backyard, he wondered if he should go in the pool or the hot tub initially. Noting that the weather was kind of warm, he settled for going in the pool firstly. Besides... Hinata and Tenten were already swimming in the cool water, chasing each other and giggling.

Inside, Sasuke wondered if Ino could get any more stupid. Ino kept on giving away her location to him when it was very, very obvious that he showed a string dislike towards her. So, naturally, he was going to stay away. _Tch... Only Ino and Sakura would do that,_ he thought. Sasuke definitely did not want to go outside, so he stuck with wandering around Savanna's house until Ino came back inside.

Sammy gazed at Neji for a moment before forcing herself to stop. She spun around and caught up with Savanna. "I... I will die here," she whispered, her cheeks a light shade of pink. "I will die here. Of happiness and love and fangirling."

Naruto smiled at Savanna once they made eye contact, and right as Sammy walked up to her. Kiba settled in the hot tub as well, following Naruto's actions and for the same reason.

"I've always liked hot tubs," he stated with a crooked smile. Naruto shot him a look, not wanting him to take his crush away from him.

Sasuke glanced around the foyer for a second or two and then decided to go upstairs. He stepped up each stair cautiously, knowing that Ino could be coming inside as he did so.

"Sasukeee! Where is he?" said person asked no one in particular. Choji sent her a look from a few feet away.

"Trying to get away from you," he answered with an eye roll. "He doesn't like you."

"Of course he likes me," Ino grinned. "I wouldn't be chasing after him if I knew he didn't like me."

Choji and Shikamaru both face-palmed. "Are you kidding? Are you that dumb?" the lazy Nara said exasperatedly. "He's told you before, and you never listen!"

Ino flipped her ponytail, _still_ ignoring that comment- it was like it passed through deaf ears. "He's trying to deny it, but I know he can't resist my natural beauty... I can just tell with these sort of things!"

_What natural beauty?_ thought Shikamaru. _And what part of Sasuke's behavior somehow makes her think that he likes her?... Whatever. It's Ino._

Finally reaching the top of the stairs, Sasuke's feet softly padded on the carpet as he wandered into Savanna's bedroom. Watching the sunlight from the window stream into the room, he noted that it wasn't like any room he had seen before... It was styled differently. _How strange,_ he thought.

Testing the temperature of the pool's water with his foot, Neji lowered himself into the cool water when he deemed it warm enough for his liking. He didn't get to relax for long, however- Tenten immediately swam up to him, pulling Hinata along the way.

"Neji, let's play a game!"

"It depends," he decided. "What game?"

Tenten's brown eyes gleamed with excitement. "It's pretty simple... Just try to catch me and Hinata. It's just tag."

Neji slightly smiled. "Alright. But I'm warning you... I won't go easy."

Tenten's grin grew. "Why would I _want_ you to go easy on me? I want a challenge! You're still not going to win against us, anyway."

Hinata's breathing caught for a fraction of a second. "W-Wait... I'm playing, too?"

"Of course," Tenten replied to her like it was a given. "You're an amazing swimmer, Hinata. You'd totally beat Neji."

"Oh... I don't know..." She tentatively trailed off.

In the hot tub, Savanna was about to scream.

With happiness, of course.

_I'm going to die of happiness and love and fangirling, too,_ she thought. _This is too great. It's too perfect... This can't be happening!_ As she admired Kiba's attractive lopsided grin, her cheeks felt warm after a few seconds. "I do, too," she murmured, barely conscious of what she was saying.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Hot tubs are great," he smiled. "What should we do in here?"

Kiba shot him a look. "Naruto. You can't really do much in a hot tub," he pointed out. "Hot tubs aren't pools... You can't even swim in them."

"Well, _excuse me,_" Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "I was _trying_ to make this fun, but you went ahead and ruined it. Nice going, Kiba."

"Shut up."

"No."

Tenten sent Hinata a bright smile. "Don't worry, Hinata! You'll do fine! It'll be fun," she winked. "And besides... It's just for fun, too."

Hinata smiled nervously back. _Neji will definitely beat me, _she thought uneasily. "O-Okay..." she replied, glancing at the two shyly.

Sasuke turned the knob of the closet door and pulled it open, staring inside with a raised eyebrow. _She has... Interesting clothing, _he thought to himself while eyeing a sparkly blue miniskirt. _I've never seen any girl wear something like that._

Sammy stared at nothing, really, the image of everything stuck in her mind. Part of her still couldn't believe that she was actually in the Naruto world. She glanced around at everyone and smiled slightly. Everything was so real, so vivid... She didn't know how it was possible, but it was true.

"That's the spirit," encouraged Tenten. "Okay, Neji. Try to get both of us. Ready... Set... Go!" As soon as she said the last word, she and Hinata dove underwater, disappearing from sight.

Activating his Byakugan, Neji followed their suit. He easily spotted them at the bottom of the deep end a few seconds later.

Savanna sighed, running a hand through her long brown locks. Seriously. It was inevitable that Naruto and Kiba were eventually going to fight, but right now? In the hot tub? She had always found it at least a little amusing, though...

Kiba leaned towards Naruto, a slight snarl revealing one of his sharp incisors. "What did you say?"

Naruto also leaned towards Kiba, making Savanna feel awkward, for she was situated between them. "I said NO... You can't make me shut up."

"You wanna bet?" Kiba challenged.

At this point, Savanna was about to leave the hot tub if it wasn't for Shikamaru who cleared his throat behind the trio. Whipping around, Naruto asked, "What do you want, Shikamaru?"

Despite Naruto's harsh tone, Shikamaru's visage remained lazy and uncaring. "I only came outside so I could use the hot tub. Mind making room for me and Choji?" He gestured to the Akimichi standing to the side of him.

When he heard Shikamaru's request, a mischievous look formed in Naruto's blue eyes. His frown morphing into a smirk, he formed a hand sign and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Suddenly, fifty Naruto clones were conjured seemingly from mid-air, filling up the _entire_ hot tub. As a result, Savanna became squished against Kiba and many of the Naruto's. It almost seemed like bait for the fangirl within her... Her face was only inches from his, and she could feel his smooth skin where she was pressed up against him- which was basically everywhere because of the Naruto clones filling up the hot tub. _I-I feel like... Squealing,_ she thought. _I'm so close to them. SO CLOSE. Oh my gosh... I'm touching Kiba and Naruto(s)! _Trying extremely hard not to scream, Savanna blushed again and smiled.

Sammy was sucked out of her own world once Naruto... and a lot more were shoved into her face. "Hello, Naruto..." she laughed.

The Naruto that was right in front of her smiled as well. "Hey! Now Shikamaru and Choji can't come in!"

Shikamaru scowled, but didn't want to waste his time fighting with the impossible Naruto. "Idiot," he muttered, turning to face Choji.

"Let's just go in the pool," Choji suggested, and Shikamaru just narrowed his eyes to small slits. It looked as if he didn't want to do so, but Choji dragged him away from the hot tub anyway.

All of the Naruto's cackled and pointed towards Shikamaru. "Sorry, buddy!" one of them called out. "There isn't any room for you or Choji in here!"

Kiba smiled at Savanna. "Well, isn't this fun?" he asked with a chuckle and a smirk. A Naruto overheard the flirty comment and shot his gaze towards Kiba. All of the others followed his actions, and their suspicions were answered once they saw Kiba so close to her.

"You better not pull anything," one grumbled darkly.

"It's your fault you pushed me towards her," Kiba retorted. "But I don't really mind."

Every Naruto started yelling at Kiba in disgrace. "Get away from her! She's mine! Stop! Move!"

Hinata saw Neji swimming towards them and also noticed that his Byakugan was activated. She almost gasped and activated hers also, swimming away in the process.

Shutting the closet door, Sasuke wandered over to Savanna's Akatsuki sheet bedspread. _How did I not notice this before?_ He wondered. He froze when he heard the slam of a door and Ino's voice, now much louder and clearer, following soon after. "Sasukeeeee..." She trailed off in a creepy tone. "You won't be able to hide from me foreverrr..."

Tenten couldn't see as clearly underwater because she didn't have a Byakugan, so Neji easily caught up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Once she resurfaced, she sad, "Aw, man."

Leaving only Hinata, Neji started swimming after her. Letting out a little squeak, a plan started to form in her mind. _I wonder,_ she thought. _Would a Jutsu work underwater?_

Savanna tried to gain control of her extensive blushing, but it wasn't really working. _Naruto and Kiba... are fighting over me..._ she thought. _Just like in my old fanfiction... I don't know how I should feel!_

Eventually, one of Naruto's clones grabbed Kiba and started pushing him around in the little space he had (which was basically none). A few more joined in when they noticed Kiba's annoyance.

Kiba's smirk quickly disappeared. "Dude!" he exclaimed. "Let go of me! I'm not doing anything to her."

"You're thinking about it!" one clone cried out, and all of the others joined in with the same point. Kiba managed to punch a few of them, causing them to disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Hey! You can't just kill one of-"

"...one of me!" another clone finished for the other, and the Naruto's fought harder.

Sammy tried not to laugh as she watched the scene, still surrounded by doppelgängers. She did feel bad for Kiba, but everything that happened in this world made her want to jump for joy. She smiled to herself and suddenly wondered if she could pull off any Jutsu period as she happened to read Hinata's mind.

_Neji's getting closer,_ said ninja thought, continuing to swim away from her cousin. _What Jutsu could I complete under here anyway?_ She thought and thought about what she could pull of for a number of seconds before a Jutsu came to mind.

Sasuke panicked silently as he heard Ino's footsteps come up the staircase slowly. He searched the room for a hiding place and eventually decided on diving under the bed for safety. Right as he did so, Ini crept into the room.

"Sasukeeee... I know your scent, and it's definitely in here..." she murmured creepily, her aqua eyes searching the room. "We'll be reunited very, _very_ soon..."

Sasuke caught his breath as he listened to Ino. He nearly rolled his eyes in disgust. _She's pathetic,_ he thought to himself. As the seconds ticked by, Ino seemed to search everywhere except for under the bed, and something caught Sasuke's eye. _Is that... a poster of Naruto?_

As Sasuke very carefully unrolled that particular poster that caught his attention without making any noise, his suspicions were confirmed. Naruto was, in fact, on the poster, posing with a grin and a thumbs-up. Scrutinizing the poster, Sasuke's eyes narrowed. _Naruto doesn't hide anything from me,_ he thought. _And if he did, he certainly wouldn't keep something like this a secret. He's a... model?_

Ino sniffed. "I don't get it," she said frustratedly. "I can smell you, Sasuke! You're definitely in here!" Making her way to the closet, she slid open the doors and peered inside, taking in the sight of millions of clothes. "Oooohh... You must be hiding in there."

Meanwhile, Neji was only about a foot away from Hinata. Mentally freaking out, Hinata quickly thought of a random Jutsu. Since she couldn't speak underwater, Hinata thought, _Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!_

Fortunately, it seemed to work. When she thrusted her right palm towards Neji, a wave of chakra simultaneously formed from her palm and slammed into said person, sending him flying backwards. Silently cheering, she took advantage of his stunned state to swim farther away.

Shikamaru, who was now standing at the edge of the pool with Choji, did a double take. "What the heck...? There are sudden waves along the surface of the pool. Look, Choji."

Choji's eyes follwed Shikamaru's finger. "Uh... Why's that? Was there an explosion under the water or something?"

"Of course not," replied Shikamaru. "I can see two figures down there... I think it's best if we don't get in right now."

Reading Sammy's mind, Savanna wholeheartedly agreed with her. _I totally get you, Sammay, _she thought. _Everything in this world fills me with happiness, too. I'm so glad we came here... I don't ever want to leave._ She was still pressed against Kiba, so she turned around until her face was only inches from his. Even thought their proximity gave her a mini heart attack, Savanna forced herself to speak.

"It's okay, Kiba," she said. "Stop fighting." When she ran those words in her head, she realized that she probably sounded incredibly stupid.

Kiba was currently fending off a few Naruto's with his two arms. "I know it's okay, but Naruto doesn't!" He grunted as he shoved a few more off of him.

Savanna sighed and rephrased her statement. "Naruto, it's okay," she repeated. "Stop fighting."

All of the Naruto's froze and looked at Savanna. Each one disappeared with a poof except for the real one. He smiled at the brown-haired girl.

"Anything for you, Savanna." He grinned and then sat down again on the other side of Savanna. Sammy was already sitting next to her, but she scooted over to make room for Naruto anyway. She started playing with her long hair; only the tips were wet. _I wanna scream. Right now, _she thought, replying to her cousin's telepathic thought. _A lot._

Neji floated there, stunned. Had Hinata really done that? He shook his head and snapped out of his trance, resurfacing to get a quick breath of air. The sudden Jutsu surprised him and knocked all of the air he had out of him as well.

Hinata watched Neji as he began swimming towards the surface. She mirrored his movements and arrived above the water in moments.

"I think I know who those two figures were," Shikamaru said sarcastically. Choji turned his gaze from the food table through the window to what Shikamaru had pointed out. He laughed.

"Yep," the ninja replied. "Maybe we can get in soon. It looks like they might be finished with their game. Or, maybe they'll be done soon."

Overhearing Shikamaru's comment, Hinata smiled nervously and nodded. "Y-Yes, Neji... Let's stop the game so Shikamaru and Choji can come in."

Neji knew Hinata like the back of his hand due to them being close cousins, so he also knew that she was only cutting off the game of tag because she felt compassion for Shikamaru and Choji (and everyone else); it wasn't because she wanted to win. "Alright," he consented.

"Yes!" Choji exclaimed. Immediately, he jumped in the pool, screaming, "CANNONBALL!"

As soon as his body connected with the pool, the cold water sprayed everywhere because of the impact, splashing everyone present in the backyard. Slowly, Shikamaru raised his arm, sighed, and wiped the water off of his face. _What a drag_, he thought.

Savanna yelped in surprise when the cold water from the pool touched her warmed skin, but that didn't distract her much from her deep thinking. _Naruto just said he would do anything for me, _she thought. Her mind tried to grasp that fact, but it seemed to be slipping between her fingers; she was still trying to accept the truth that the Naruto world was actually a reality. Oddly enough, she finally regained control of her absurd blushing despite Naruto's comment.

"Finally," Kiba said with a disapproving scowl. "Naruto was overreacting, as usual..."

Kiba spoke quietly, so Naruto couldn't quite pick up on the words he muttered. "What did you say, Kiba?"

Kiba smirked. "Oh, nothing."

_ I bet Naruto and Kiba couldn't go without fighting for a single day, _Savanna thought, laughing softly. A few seconds later, her eyes shifted to Sai sitting awkwardly (everything he did seemed to exhibit an awkward feel for some reason) in one of the chairs on the patio, regarding the scenery. "Hey, Sai!" she called out. His head turned towards her when she grabbed his attention, his expression calm.

"Yes?"

"You look like you're bored. Why don't you come into the hot tub?"

Sai averted his eyes in one of those rare occasions when he seemed almost tentative to speak. "I think I'll pass," he declined. "Hot tubs aren't to my liking..."

When Sasuke observed Ino disappearing into Savanna's labyrinth of a closet, he slumped to the carpet in relief. Up until now, he had been really rigid and tense just by thinking of being discovered by the lovesick Ino. If Sakura was here with Ino, they would at least be arguing often enough for Sasuke to slip away for (hopefully) long periods of time...

As Ino just about ransacked Savanna's closet looking for Sasuke, he carefully slithered out from under the bed and managed to hightail it out of the room. She somehow didn't notice his presence or his 'scent' leaving the room, since she continued to toss shirts and other clothing items behind her. Sasuke continuously ran swiftly until he reached the backyard and then slumped against the door in relief.

Sammy eyed the two boys in the hot tub, who were gazing at her cousin. She felt awkward and shifted in her seat, blowing on a strand of her hair, attempting to make it dry again after Choji's splash to pass the time. As a few seconds more passed, she just felt awkward sitting next to Naruto Uzumaki instead and moved so she was sitting across from the three instead of next to them.

Naruto and Kiba weren't paying attention to the quiet blonde. They sat there ogling at Savanna instead. "Your eyes are an amazing shade of green," Kiba complimented.

"I think her hair color is beautiful, too," Naruto challenged.

Kiba narrowed his eyes at the Uzumaki. "I think she has a great taste in swimsuits."

"I think everything about her is amazing!"

The argument continued on from there. It wasn't hard to imagine... two boys fighting over a girl? It had been seen before.

Shikamaru decided to not follow the footsteps of his friend and stepped into the pool through the ladder instead. _Hopefully it doesn't get too rowdy in here, _he thought. _I'm not in the mood for that._

When Sasuke's breathing rate lowered, he carefully stood up and observed the area for any signs of Ino. She was still turning over everything in Savanna's closet, so Sasuke luckily couldn't detect anything. However, he did notice everyone either in the hot tub or the swimming pool (with the exception of Sai, but that was _Sai_), so he took off his clothes and revealed himself in a pair of black trunks. _I might as well try to relax while I can,_ he thought. He felt hot from running away from Ino for the majority of the day, so he made his way over to the swimming pool and slowly lowered himself into the cool water.

Savanna couldn't suppress her feelings any longer.

She felt like she was going to explode.

All her life, she had been loving Naruto and Kiba. Even though they weren't her favorite characters, even her _least_ favorite guy character would give her butterflies just from her seeing him. So when the two shinobi started arguing about her so-called "flawlessness", it felt like a dream-come-true. Somehow, they were fighting although they were on the same side. For who knows how long, she had been imagining about them liking her, loving her...

So basically, if Savanna wasn't going to let anything out right now, she was going to go crazy.

Quickly covering her face with her hands, she prepared herself for the slight burning that would soon occur. Not wasting any time, she dunked herself under the boiling water and let out a faint squeal. As soon as her fangirling was out of her system, she resurfaced and returned to her former position. _Phew... That was close,_ she thought. _I can be so pathetic sometimes..._

Eyeing Savanna, Naruto jokingly asked, "What was that for? It hurts to do that!"

Savanna shrugged. "I don't know... I was curious as to what that would feel like. Yeah... It did hurt."

"Especially if you go under for a long time," added Kiba.

Savanna noticed and felt Sammy sitting uncomfortably across from them, so she stood up. "How about we play a game in the pool?" she suggested. "It's called Chicken, and it's really fun."

Sammy blinked at Savanna. She knew how to play Chicken, of course... but who would her partner be? "Okay. I love that game," she replied, standing up also. They would figure out partners later.

Naruto stared at the two, looking confused. "What's Chicken? How do you play it?" he asked, standing up as well. Kiba stood up after him and waited for someone to answer. He would play anything Savanna suggested, because anything she suggested would clearly be fun.

"Savanna will be able to explain it better then I can," Sammy said with a shrug, looking from Naruto and Kiba to Savanna. "So go ahead, Banana, dear."

Choji confirmed his thoughts. He was sure he heard someone say chicken. "Chicken?!" he rejoiced, glancing around the backyard to see who had sad the amazing word.

Hinata sat in the corner of the pool and motioned for Tenten to walk over and join her. She did as she was told and stood next to Hinata in the pool, glancing around at everyone who stood, swam or sat in the backyard. She noted that the people in the hot tub looked as if they were planning something.

While Ino threw Savanna's clothes every which way and that inside of her closet, she suddenly came across said person's collection of bras. And by collection, that means there were hundreds of pairs.

Ino suddenly stopped in her tracks and marveled at the vast majority. "Ooooohhh," she breathed. "These... These are so... _cute!_"

Sai felt like he was baking in the sun from being exposed outside for so long, so he walked over to the swimming pool and waded in. He noticed Sasuke stiffly standing in the shallow end with his arms folded, so he swam over to him. "Sasuke?" he inquired. "What's the point of getting in the pool if you're not going to do anything?"

_Ugh,_ Sasuke thought. _That annoying guy is talking to me. He's so unusual. _He shrugged. "I'm staying away from a certain someone... That's all."

Savanna mentally laughed as she repeated her cousin's words in her head. _Banana, dear? _"Alright, if you say so," she said. "So... Chicken is a game played in the shallow end of the pool. You team up with a partner, and then one person gets on the other's shoulders. When the person on the bottom stands up, the person on the top has to push all of the other people off their partner's shoulders to win. It's pretty simple, but it's really fun."

Sammy nodded in agreement. "She's right... it's super fun."

"I call being partners with Savanna!" Naruto smiled, putting his hands on his hips, proud of beating Kiba.

"You can't just call someone as a partner!" Kiba objected, and it was clear that he wanted Savanna as a partner just as much as Naruto did. "What if Savanna doesn't want to be partners with you?!"

Naruto laughed, almost sounding mockingly... but, yet again, it probably was meant to be. "She probably does," he answered with a shrug.

"Probably not," Kiba glared. "She definitely wants to be partners with me, don't you, Savanna?"

"No, she doesn't! Savanna! Tell him that you don't want to be partners with him, but that you want to be partners with me!" Naruto argued, and both of them turned to look at Savanna, still yelling at each other over who she would want as a partner.

Sammy smiled at the two fighting and stepped out of the tub, quickly making her way towards the pool. She knew the water would be freezing after being in the hot tub, so she braced herself for the worst and hopped into the water. A yelp escaped her mouth as she did so.

Sai nodded. "I understand. Is it Ino you're hiding from?"

Sasuke wasn't in the mood to answer questions, but he kept his cool and closed his eyes. "Yeah."

Ino, who was too busy to overhear Sai and Sasuke's conversation outside with her excellent ears, continued to marvel at the hundreds of bras that sat in front of her. She giggled at the greatness of it all and then continued to search through the closet, excitedly finding more and more color sorted bras.

"I wonder," she mused to herself. "Savanna surely wouldn't notice if I took one of these, right?" Ino paused for a second, a sudden thought popping into her head. "What if... What if they're not my size?"

_Oh, no,_ Savanna thought. _I want to be partners with both of them, but of course, that's not really possible, is it? _She felt like squealing again, but she had just let out a lot of fangirling a moment ago, so she could barely control herself this time.

"I would like to be partners with both of you," she decided, "but I'm choosing Naruto because he asked first." _Even though he didn't really ask me,_ she added in her mind.

Naruto barked out a laugh and jabbed his pointer finger at Kiba. "Ha! That's just her way of telling you that she totally wants to be paired up with me!"

Kiba's eyes reverted to white circles. "No way! She's trying to be fair because she's just that nice of a person! I bet she really wants to have me as a partner."

Savanna sighed, mentally rolling around. "Guys, it's just a game. Let's just go have fun, okay?"

Immediately agreeing, Naruto jumped out of the hot tub and sprinted over to the pool, where he close to threw himself in the water. Grumbling, Kiba followed his suit while Savanna trailed behind them, having strong urges to jump around in place.

Neji's light gray eyes followed Sammay when she jumped into the pool. _It's that pretty blonde again, _he thought. Without consciously deciding to move, he automatically swam over to her when she resurfaced from her leap.

Observing Naruto and Kiba diving into the pool, he questioned, "What's going on, Sammy? Are Naruto and Kiba planning something?"

Sammy turned her attention towards the boy, still getting used to the cold water. "Oh. Um. No... they both wanted to be Bana—Savanna's partner for Chicken."

When Neji looked at her with a questioning look, she realized that he didn't know what Chicken was, nor did he know that they were going to play. _Jeez,_ she thought, a blush forming on her cheeks. _I've barely said anything to him and I'm already making a fool of myself..._ "Oh... you don't know what Chicken is...it's a game where teams of two pair up. One sits on the other's shoulders, and you try to knock down the other teams... um. Does that make sense? You play it at the shallow end, of course..."

Ino smirked. "Well, there's only one way to find out!"

Since she was wearing a bikini, she figured it wouldn't hurt to just try on the bra over it. And that's what she did. She picked up a pink bra and tried it on.

"It fits on perfectly! It's a little tight, but that's probably a good sign since I'm wearing my bikini top under it!" Ino cheered. "Savanna hopefully isn't one to get mad if someone takes her bras..."

"Are you all ready to play?!" Naruto cried, pumping his fists. Kiba glared at him from a few feet away. _I'm so much better than Naruto,_ he thought. _How could Savanna choose him over me? I don't get it. _

Sasuke and Sai turned their attention towards the screaming Uzumaki across the pool. Sai wondered what could possibly be going on over there to cause Naruto to react so ecstatically. Sasuke simply rolled his onyx eyes. _Naruto's such a loser, _he thought.

Savanna couldn't help but giggle at Naruto's enthusiasm. After reading Kiba's mind, however, she felt a little pang of guilt. "Yeah!" she exclaimed, hiding her minor feelings of regret.

Wading over to Savanna after her response, Naruto flashed a grin. "Come on," he urged. "Get on my shoulders."

"Right now?"

"Of course," Naruto replied. He made it sound like that was the obvious thing to do. "It's nice to be prepared."

Savanna didn't even have to listen to Naruto's thoughts to infer what his true intention was. Without waiting for her reply, Naruto disappeared under the water and waited for her to sit on his shoulders.

Hesitantly, Savanna moved towards the submerged ninja. A small part of her worried that Naruto would disappear if she touched him, but the other part immediately rejected that idea. _It's too long and vivid to be just a wonderful dream, _Savanna tried reminding herself as she lowered herself onto Naruto's shoulders.

When Naruto closed his warm fingers around her calves and resumed his original position of standing upright, Savanna became absolutely positive that he- this world- was definitely _real._ She did rest her hand on Naruto's body earlier, but she barely applied any pressure and it was only for a brief period of time. Now that was literally sitting on him, she marveled again at how _real_ he felt.

Savanna couldn't help herself, so she placed her hands in his spiky and surprisingly soft blonde hair, ruffling it a bit. "This is fun!"

A diabolical plan formed in Kiba's mind as a sadistic smirk made its way onto his face. _Once I find a partner, I'm only going to go for Savanna and Naruto,_ he decided.

Watching the scene, Tenten sprang up from her resting place and ran over to the shallow end, skidding to a halt. "Oooh! I want to play!" she eagerly called out.

Neji regarded Naruto with an exasperated expression. "I understand," he said. "Of course Naruto would play. If anyone would play, it would be him." Suddenly, a strange emotion came over him. It was almost like... like... a subtle feeling of... well, he couldn't quite describe it yet. Instead, he followed what felt like the right thing to do. Letting the words from his instincts flow out, Neji asked the pretty blonde, "...Do you need a partner?"

_ Did he really just ask me that? _she thought, inwardly just about screaming her head off with excitement. It was so unbelievably hard to contain her feelings, and it especially was in this world she had somehow gotten sucked into. "Yes... but you don't have to if you don't want to play," she assured him, not wanting to make it seem like he had to be her partner, despite the fact that she wanted him to be so badly.

The last puzzle piece fit perfectly into Kiba's plan once Tenten had declared her desire to be a part of the game as well. "I'll be your partner, Tenten," he called out, and Tenten smiled and nodded while slipping into the water along with everyone else.

"Sai, Sasuke!" Naruto waved at them, but only letting go of Savanna for a split second. "You should play, too! It's going to be really fun, even though Savanna and I are definitely going to win!"

Sasuke glared. "There's not a chance I'm playing."

Sai stood in the pool awkwardly, yet again. He, of course, wasn't quite sure on how to react in this situation, so he ended up not saying anything at all.

"Come on! It'll be fun, and we only have three teams playing! Sammy's playing, too, right?" Naruto asked no one in particular. "Maybe I'll have to make some shadow clones to play with us."

_More Naruto's? _Savanna thought._ I could barely stand the hot tub thing... If I played Chicken against his shadow clones, I would probably be too happy to actually concentrate on winning._ "Please, Sasuke," she pleaded. "I'm the one that even suggested this game. It's really fun... You should at least try it."

Sasuke stopped glaring at Naruto, his eyes shifting up to Savanna's. "What's the point?"

"To have fun," Savanna answered. _Sasuke needs to stop being such a party pooper, _she thought. When she averted her gaze to the awkward Sai, a small smile played on the corners of her lips. "And Sai... You should play and be Sasuke's partner. Don't you want to prove that Naruto has no balls?" She winked.

"HEY!" Naruto shouted, his cheeks turning a bright shade of crimson.

Sai chuckled and put on his fake smile. "On second thought, I do want to play this game now."

Sasuke muttered, "Well, I still don't want to take part in this."

"You never know unless you try," Savanna pointed out.

Naruto recovered from Savanna's comment and quickly nodded his head. "Yeah! If you don't play, I'm gonna make as many shadow clones of myself as I can so we can have the most amount of fun possible!" Knowing fully well that Sasuke's number-three pet peeve was a multiple number of Naruto's (number one was Sakura and number two was Ino), Naruto smirked.

_Crap,_ Sasuke thought as he narrowed his eyes at the triumphant shinobi. _It'll be even more annoying than joining the game if there's more than one Naruto. _After a long pause, he sighed. "Fine," he consented.

Naruto pumped his fist again, loosing his balance for a couple of seconds. Savanna gasped and automatically fastened her fingers to his blonde hair even though she was aware that it wasn't going to help her if he actually did fall. "Careful, Naruto," she warned.

After Kiba allowed Tenten to position herself on his shoulders, he explained his scheme to her. "Here's the plan," he started out. "Let's only go for Naruto and Savanna, Tenten. Naruto's been acting like a totally jerk lately, and I want to show him who's boss."

Tenten laughed at Kiba's hatred. "Alright, then... I'm down for anything!"

_It looks like she really wants to play,_ Neji observed. _I can see it in her facial expression._ "I don't mind," he affirmed. "It seems like an interesting game. Shall we?" He motioned to the people congregating in the shallow end of the pool.

Sammy nodded and swam into the shallow end. Once she emerged from the water, Neji resurfaced right beside her, but only to submerge himself back into the water so she could be able to sit on his shoulders. She then gingerly placed herself upon him and automatically hoped she wasn't too heavy as he stood up completely.

Sasuke sighed and let Sai sit on his shoulders. "Why did I agree to this again?" Sasuke asked himself, already blocking out the fact that Naruto would make shadow clones with the fact that having Sai sit on his shoulders was not only uncomfortable, but also awkward.

"I would never let you fall," Naruto smiled, holding Savanna's ankles tighter. "If I did that, I would never forgive myself... even though we're in a pool." A laugh followed after his statement.

Kiba glared at Naruto. He was definitely aware of his words, so he quickly tried to distract them by changing the subject. "Alright! Are we ready to play, or does anyone else want to play?!"

Suddenly, shattering glass could be heard, followed by a large splash in the pool. Sammy naturally wrapped her arms around Neji's neck quickly to try and save herself from whatever had caused the loud and unexpected crash.

Lee poked his head out from the water and smiled, shooting a thumbs-up towards everyone. "I am here to play Chicken! Sorry about your window, Savanna!"

Everyone looked towards the spot where Lee had suddenly appeared from and concluded that he burst out through the window.

"Lee is so troublesome," Shikamaru mumbled, climbing out from the pool and sitting on a chair. "Everyone here is so troublesome."

"Where were you this whole time, Lee?!" Naruto asked, confused. "Everyone else has been out here... EXCEPT FOR YOU!"

Lee shrugged. "I do not know, but it is alright, since I am now here!"

Sammy awkwardly pulled her arms away from Neji's neck after she realized it was just Lee. "Sorry..." she apologized. _Of course I had to do that,_ she thought. _That was so embarrassing..._

Naruto shook his head. "Whatever... We'll fix the window later. We have to play Chicken! Who's Lee's partner gonna be?"

Savanna chuckled even though she was greatly startled by Lee's sudden leap through her window. However, she wasn't mad... Why would she be? _Technically, this is my home,_ she thought. _Every part of it really is mine, but I don't really own it... Wait, no. I do own it, but it's not officially mine... But it still belongs to me... Ugh. I'm just not going to think about that. _Finally paying attention to what Naruto asked, she replied, "I don't know... Anyone is fine. Right, Lee?"

Lee vigorously nodded, the shine on his dark hair moving up and down. "Of course! It will be fun to play Chicken with anyone!"

After pausing for a moment, Savanna lowered her eyes in deep thought. _How in the world,_ she wondered, _does Lee know what Chicken is?_

"Count me out," Shikamaru muttered just loudly enough for Lee to hear. Choji exhibited the same response as they moved over to the shaded backyard patio in an attempt to avoid the commotion that would ensue.

There was nobody left except for Hinata, who still sat at the edge of the deep end, nervously twiddling her fingers and swinging her legs back and forth. Tenten warmly smiled at her. "C'mon, Hinata. Lee needs a partner, and I'll be playing along with you," she persuaded.

Hinata looked at her shyly. "I...I don't know... I can't really push anyone..."

Tenten waved her off. "Pshhhh. Of course you can... That's all you do! 64 Palms this, Air Palm that. That's basically just pushing."

"And nobody will get hurt," Lee added. "We are in the pool!"

A small smile formed on Hinata's face. "Well, alright... If you say so..."

After feeling Sammy's arms wrap around his neck following Lee's crash, Neji blinked. That same strange feeling came again... It seemed to prick at him, almost telling him to... do something. He was so concentrated on figuring out this phenomena that he almost didn't pick up Sammy's rushed apology. Returning to the present, he breathed out a sigh. "It's quite alright," he responded. "It's perfectly expected... Lee is so ridiculous."

"I suppose he his... but I think he's funny," Sammy replied, wondering the same thing Savanna wondered. She didn't explain Chicken to Lee, and her cousin didn't, either...so how, exactly, did he know what they were playing?

Lee's smile grew even bigger as he watched Hinata dip herself into the pool and swim over. "Whenever you are ready, Hinata!" he said to her before going completely underwater. She had overheard Savanna explaining the game to Naruto and Kiba before, so she already understood the game and sat herself on Lee's shoulders. He easily stood up once more and smiled at the others.

"Are we all ready to play?!" Naruto screamed. "'Cause I know I am!"

Kiba rolled his eyes. "No duh, Naruto. You're practically vibrating with excitement over there," he retorted. "Calm down."

"Shut up, Kiba! You're just jealous that I'm partners with Savanna and you're not!" Naruto shot back, knowing how to push his buttons. Kiba's eyes widened for a split second before he realized that he had already given away too much.

"No way! She only chose you because you asked first, even though you didn't even ask!"

"She chose me because she clearly wanted to be my partner and not yours!"

"That's not possible since I'm way more good looking than you!"

Naruto gasped. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

"NO!"

A blush crept onto Savanna's cheeks as she listened to them bicker over who was better than the other. _I do agree that Kiba's good looking,_ she thought. _And Naruto, too... Why do people have to look so nice in this world?_

Sasuke fidgeted, the awkward mood between him and Sai only increasing with every minute. "Let's start already," he impatiently said. "This is tiring."

"Well, Kiba needs to shut up!" Naruto growled, his blue eyes shooting daggers at Kiba.

"I'm only telling the truth," Kiba defended. "Heh."

Naruto opened his mouth to bark out another comeback, but Savanna jabbed the top of his head with her pointer finger, effectively shutting him up. "Stop this, guys!" she demanded. "Let's just play and have fun."

"Yeah," Tenten agreed. "It's not fun listening to Kiba and Naruto argue about stupid things like who is more better looking. In my opinion, both of you are hideous."

Hinata nearby giggled, but Kiba's mouth turned down in a frown. "Sure, sure," he sarcastically said. "You just don't want to admit the truth. Everyone knows that I have perfect features."

Pondering over Sammy's comment, Neji immediately disagreed. "Lee... Funny? More like utterly absurd." He glanced disapprovingly at Kiba and Naruto. "Like them right now."

Facepalming, Savanna let out a frustrated sigh. _Whatever, _she thought after a moment. _I'll just start the game..._ "On your mark... Get set... Go!"

Waiting for the cue to finally start the game, Sai motioned towards Naruto with his hand. "Sasuke, please go to Naruto," he requested. "He won't have the balls to hold against me."

_He's so strange, _Sasuke repeated. Nonetheless, he still obeyed Sai and waded over to Naruto and Savanna, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone.

_Oooooh, _thought Savanna. _Here comes Sai... Hehe!_ Grinning, she grabbed his forearms as they neared each other and jerked him to the side, nearly tossing him into the pool. Somehow, Sasuke grunted and managed to keep Sai upright. In turn, Sai gave a strong push of his own and threw Naruto off balance again.

"Are you even a man, Naruto?" Sai taunted. "You're pretty wimpy."

"That's it!" Naruto burst out. "I'm sick of your BALLS jokes! Get him, Savanna!"

Savanna didn't have to be told twice. When Naruto charged towards Sai and Sasuke, she slammed her palms into Sai's chest. The impact was too large, so Sai toppled into the pool and subsequently dragged Sasuke under the surface of the water with him. Cheering, Savanna gave Naruto and high five. _So far, so good, _she thought.

Sammy didn't reply to Neji's comment and payed attention to Kiba's mind, gathering that he was planning on going for Savanna and Naruto.

"Go after Kiba and Tenten... they're going to go after Naruto and Savanna," Sammy said to Neji with a lowered voice. "And Kiba's pretty mad. So we've gotta do this and we've gotta do it fast." She giggled at herself after she gave him the pep-talk. _I sound like my gym teacher,_ she thought.

"CHAAAAAAARGE!" Lee cried unexpectedly, running towards Sammy and Neji at top speed. "Hinata and I will win!"

Neji slid out of the way just before Hinata attempted to push Sammy over. The whole scene caused the blonde's giggling to turn into laughing. Sasuke resurfaced with flat hair, Lee was red with determination, and she just realized that Ino was upstairs stealing Savanna's bra.

Kiba ignored all of the commotion on the other side of the shallow end and began running towards Naruto and Savanna. "You're going down," he growled. "Way down!"

"Ah! Wha?" Naruto turned his attention towards Tenten and Kiba, just noticing that they were on their way towards them. "Ah!"

Tenten reached her arms forward and succeeded on pushing Savanna. Naruto stumbled slightly but still managed to stay upright. "So close!" she exclaimed, and waited for another chance.

Sai poked his head up from the water. "How did that happen?" he asked himself, running through the situation over and over again in his head. "Savanna somehow managed to push me over."

"That's exactly how it all went down," Sasuke muttered. "Savanna pushed you. End of the story."

"Huh," said Sai. "How strange..."

Listening to Sai's thoughts, Savanna became a little creeped out. _Strange? _she thought. _That's strange? Well, okay, then..._

Recovering from Neji's quick dodge, Lee charged at him and Sammy again. However, Hinata wasn't quite ready yet, so she gave a little squeak at the sudden burst of speed. When Lee neared Neji and Sammy, he didn't slow down, but Neji dodged the assault yet another time. As a result, Hinata hastily tried to put herself together and push over Sammy, but the momentum from her miss made Lee lose his balance and drop her into the water.

Lee resurfaced, his eyes wide open with regret. "No! I should have been more careful!"

Hinata resurfaced as well, just barely hearing Lee's comment. "I-It's okay, Lee... It's just a game..."

Now liberated from Lee and Hinata, Neji moved towards Kiba and Tenten, blocking their path when they tried to reach Naruto and Savanna. Kiba rolled his eyes, obviously thinking that they weren't going to be a nuisance to him.

"Oh, hey, Neji!" Tenten greeted. "I never thought I'd live to see the day when you willingly carried a girl. Hah!"

Kiba smirked. "Yeah, Neji. I guess you got to know Savanna's cousin pretty well already, huh?"

Neji wasn't one to blush, but he nonetheless slightly flushed at their teasing. Unlike Naruto, he wasn't going to argue with some hopeless comeback that would do nothing but waste time, so he stayed silent and stepped a little closer to the pair in front of him. "I'm leaving it to you, Sammy," he softly said.

"I have a name, Kiba," she smirked after recovering from her laugh attack. "And it's most definitely not 'Savanna's Cousin'."

At that, she reached and pushed Tenten, causing Kiba to apply more effort in holding his partner. Still managing to stand up, he attempted to get around Neji and Sammy to reach Naruto and Savanna, but he couldn't since Neji stepped in the way once more.

"Oh, move, would you?" Kiba asked, sounding irratated. "I'm not trying to get to you two!"

"But we're trying to get to you," Sammy pointed out, pushing Tenten again. Kiba almost fell back but caught himself just in time.

"Yeah, I can see that." He frowned, sliding in another direction to get past the two.

Sammy found her chance and gave one last push, finally resulting in a fall between Tenten and Kiba. "HA! Yes!...How did I do that?"

"It is not just a game! This was war, Hinata!" Lee wailed, breaking into a fit of tears. "WE COULD HAVE WON IF IT WERE NOT FOR ME!"

Hinata blinked. "O-oh... I... I'm sorry for misunderstanding, Lee..."

"ALL MY FAULT!" he continued to bawl, not even paying attention to anything the world around him was doing.

"HA! HA! Take that, Kiba! Even though it wasn't me! You still LOST!" Naruto taunted as Kiba stood up, shaking his hips. "HA! HAHAHA!"

"Shut up! I just wasn't paying attention, that's all!" Kiba defended, folding his arms.

"Yeah, sure! That's it, Kiba! Sammy just pushed you guys over since you're weak! HA!"

"No way!" Kiba stubbornly argued. "I told you, I wasn't paying attention! I was concentrating on holding Tenten upright! You must know how hard that is, to hold a person up... I mean, you're holding Savanna right now!"

Naruto suddenly glanced up at Savanna as if he just realized she was on his shoulders. "Heh, Kiba. You really are weak... Savanna isn't heavy to me at all!"

Atop Naruto's shoulders, Savanna watched the scene was an amused expression. _I swear,_ she thought, _this world makes me want to fangirl at least every five minutes. Naruto and Kiba are flattering me so much... It's just... _Looking down, she noticed that her fingers were again intertwined in Naruto's hair. _Ahhh! Oh my gosh. Why does Naruto have to be so cute?_

While Savanna proceeded to have a mental breakdown, not surprisingly, Naruto and Kiba continued to throw insults at each other. "You're just saying that so you can show off," Kiba spat. "You're pathetic."

At that, Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Well, you're a loser!"

Eavesdropping on the conversation (well, who couldn't? Naruto and Kiba were basically shouting at each other), Sasuke wholeheartedly agreed with Naruto for once. _Yes, Kiba's a big loser, _he thought. Pausing for a second, he added, _And so is Naruto._

"Idiot," Kiba growled.

"STUPID BUTT-FACE!" Naruto yelled.

The last insult from Naruto threw Kiba over the edge. "That's it!" he exclaimed. Wading over to Naruto and Savanna as quickly as he could, he pushed the stunned Naruto, making him let go of Savanna and submerge under the surface of the pool with her.

Snapping back to reality, Savanna opened her eyes under the pool. _Whoa, _she thought. _I didn't know ninja could see perfectly underwater... This is so cool! Ninja can hold their breath for a long time, too... I love being a ninja._ Glancing to the side, she saw Naruto regarding her, so she smiled.

"Because we worked together," Neji replied, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Quickly, he surveyed the pool. "It looks like we're the only ones left, Sammy. We won."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: We own Naruto Shippuden...**

**... Only in our minds. :3**

**Sammay: A puzzle a day keeps the doctor away! :D**

**Banana: OH MY GOSH. I LOVE Professa Layton.**

**Sammay: A GENTLEMAN NEVER LEAVES A PUZZLE UNSOLVED**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

Sammy glanced around the pool as well once she heard Neji. "You're right," she nodded, concluding that she was the only person who still sat on another's shoulders. "Victory is ours!"

Naruto smiled back, waving. _She looks so amazed,_ he observed. _I wonder why. _He didn't think much of it, though, and swam towards her, planning on seeing if she was staring at anything in particular that fascinated her. Once he was floating next to her, he came to notice that she wasn't looking at anything in general. _Huh,_ he thought.

Kiba smiled broadly after he succeeded in shoving the two underwater. "I did it!" he cheered. "I pushed that moron over!"

Tenten rolled her eyes. "You do realize that Naruto wasn't the only one you pushed, right?" she informed him, and by the way he looked it was obvious he had forgotten that Savanna had been on his shoulders.

"Oh, yeah... I'll have to apologize once she comes back up... and then brag to Naruto once he does!" decided Kiba, and he waited for them to resurface.

"How can some people be so immature?" Sasuke muttered, watching and listening Kiba bicker about kicking Naruto's butt. It was just a game, after all, and beating someone wasn't that much of a big deal... even though it definitely looked like it was to a few.

"That's Naruto and Kiba for you," Sai replied. _I wasn't even talking to him, _Sasuke thought. _Whatever... at least he said something logical._

Carefully snatching the pink bra she technically "tried on" from a hangar in Savanna's closet, Ino crept down the staircase until she reached the now-vacant living room, where she quickly located her bag that she brought with her to the party. Immediately, she stuffed the bra into the bag, letting out a breath of relief. _Heh, heh,_ she thought. _Nobody will ever know that I took one of Savanna's bras... She has a huge collection, anyway. Only a crazy person would notice that one bra was missing!_

Normally, Savanna would have read Ino's mind and found out that her bra was stolen, but she was concentrating on not exploding with happiness at the moment. When Naruto swam so he was close to her, she couldn't help but gaze at his smooth chest, his vibrant cerulean eyes, and his blonde hair floating in the sun-lit water. Her smile lessened, but only because she was too busy admiring his features.

Shaking her head, Tenten suggested, "Why don't you just apologize to Savanna _and_ Naruto?" Kiba is so egotistical, she thought.

"Because Naruto doesn't deserve an apology," Kiba replied. "Duh."

Meanwhile, while Lee sprayed fountains of his tears, Hinata fidgeted with her fingers, clearly at a loss as to how to comfort him. "It...It wasn't your fault, Lee," she reassured him. "And I-I had fun..."

Lee ceased to produce more tears, but he still sniffled. "That is very nice to know, Hinata," he declared, "but I still must train and practice harder so I can become the best ninja possible! I can't let any one of my comrades down yet another time!"

Still smiling, Neji lowered Sammy down into the pool. "We make a pretty good team," he observed. "...How long are you saying in the Hidden Leaf?" As he said the question, that peculiar feeling from before tugged at his heart again. It was almost like it was approving or disapproving his actions. _How unusual, _Neji thought.

Sammy thought about the question. She'd been asked this question before, and she really had no clue how she would ever get back to her real home. "Um," she started, furrowing her eyebrows together. There had to be some way that she could think of, but nothing came to mind. "I'm not sure. It would probably take a really long time to get back to Utah..."

_That sounded stupid,_ she thought. _He would think I'd know how long it would take... sure, it took a split second before, but I don't understand how that even happened. How can I make it happen again to get back home if I don't know how?_

Ino glanced around the room and suddenly remembered why she had come into the house in the first place. "Sasuke's not in here... I can't smell him in the house anymore... he must've escaped into the backyard while I was trying on the bra!"

Right after she said this, she bolted from the living room and ran in front of the back door. Swinging it open, she called her crush's name. "Sasukeeeee! I found you!"

Sasuke tensed and slowly turned his gaze towards the back door. Once he saw Ino standing there with hearts in her eyes, he thought hardly and quickly about how he would escape. _Why won't she leave me alone?_ he thought.

Kiba winced as he heard Ino's screech for Sasuke from behind him. He turned to see what she was doing, and his eyes widened once he saw Ino diving into the pool, right in his direction. "AAHHH!" he screamed as Ino seemed to pounce on him in the water, and both of them were pushed underwater.

Sasuke watched as she dove into the pool. He found his chance and quickly stepped out of the pool, running towards Shikamaru and Choji.

"I guess Ino found him." Choji observed as Sasuke hid behind his chair. "At least Sakura somehow disappeared... she isn't chasing him around."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. "The commotion always finds its way towards me, doesn't it?" he mumbled, glancing in Sasuke's direction.

Sasuke glared. "Be quiet. You don't have an annoying girl chasing you around, do you?" he asked with gritted teeth. "That's right. You don't. Stop complaining."

Hinata smiled slightly at her determined friend. "Don't worry, Lee... you're already a strong ninja... but yes, there's always room for improvement..."

"That is right!" Lee declared. "Thank you for your help, Hinata!"

She wasn't sure on how she had supposedly helped him, but she nodded nonetheless.

Naruto, who was staring at something in front of him, felt Savanna's gaze. He turned his gaze to look at her and immediately made eye contact. _She was already looking at me, _he thought. He smiled as he noticed how pretty her emerald eyes looked in the water. They seemed to sparkle when she looked at him, and he couldn't help but get lost in them.

Savanna was also so immersed in gazing at Naruto that she didn't register that he was doing the same until several seconds later. _He's smiling at me, _she thought. _This is a dream come true. I wonder if... if... _Stopping herself, she didn't even let herself think of the possibility. Instead, she swam towards Naruto, wrapped her fingers around his wrist, and pulled him towards the surface of the water.

Ino finally seemed to notice what was going on; Kiba was thrashing under her, trying to get away from her grasp. Eventually, he pried her fingers off of him and frantically swam to the surface of the pool. "What... WHAT THE HECK?!" he sputtered. "Why do I always get caught up with Ino's obsession over Sasuke?"

Sai observed Kiba calmly. "It looks like you're just very unlucky," he stated.

"That part is obvious," Kiba spit out with a harsh tone. _Sai is never a help to anyone, _he thought.

Tenten looked at the deep end of the pool warily. "Is Ino still under there...?"

"You'd better bet she is," Kiba replied. "I can't take this anymore... I'm outta here." Narrowing his eyes, he exited the pool and walked over to a chair next to Choji and Shikamaru, sitting down.

_ I don't want her to go back,_ Neji thought. _I just met her today, but she's different. She's unlike anyone else, and if she left..._ Shaking his head, he returned to the present. "I'm sure Savanna would want you to stay," he persuaded. "Additionally, Lady Tsunade is very hospitable when it comes to people moving into the Leaf Village. If you merely asked, she would generously give a you a home." He paused for a second. He never offered this before, but everything he suggested seemed so reasonable when he was around Sammy. "I don't usually offer this," he began. "but there are a lot of unused rooms in the Hyuga compound. Don't hesitate to request one for yourself... Hinata and I could easily issue you one of the vacant rooms and possibly help you train."

Taking a breath of air once she resurfaced, Savanna smiled at Naruto. "See? Chicken's fun!" she exclaimed. "Even when people cheat..."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Chicken is fun! You always seem to have the best games to play," he complimented. "Actually, it's not only games. It's a lot of other things, too."

Tenten, who was standing nearby, overheard Naruto's statement. "Naruto's right," she called over to Savanna. "Chicken was really fun... I hope I'll be able to play it again sometime, but Kiba doesn't seem to want to be in be in the pool for a while. That's alright, though... I can see why."

She looked pointedly over at a crazed Ino across the pool, who had just resurfaced after pouncing onto Kiba. "I guess I aimed my dive towards the wrong person," she said, actually sounding sane at that moment. The person she was looking for in the first place had definitely popped back into her mind at that moment, since she grinned mischievously again. "That's right... I was aiming for Sasukeeee! Where did he go?! Oh, Sasukeeeeee! I saw you in the pool! I know you're out here... I can smell you!"

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "Um. What? How can she smell him?" he asked, not directing the question towards anybody in particular. "I can smell him since I'm an Inuzuka, but she's just... she's just Ino!"

"Trust me," Choji sighed, sounding worn out just by listening to Ino's cries. "This _is_ Ino we're talking about... if she says she can smell him, she can smell him. And it kind of makes sense if you think about how she might feel about Sasuke."

Kiba looked at Ino who was sniffing around in a flower bed near the pool, trying to track down the Uchiha by his scent. "Yeah... she is pretty crazy about him," he agreed. "Actually, scratch that... she is waaay crazy about him."

Sai watched everything that was going on around him and payed most attention to Ino. "I wonder what it feels like to feel what Ino's feeling right now," he said to himself. "Because it seems like this feeling she feels is a strong feeling."

The offer Neji had just offered made Sammy's thoughts go crazy. _Oh my goodness... he said I could live in the Hyuga compound, _she thought. _And that he could train me. _She wondered again if she could actually pull off a Jutsu, or if she had any chakra at all. A few Jutsu and their hand signs drifted around in her head for some, and she decided that she would attempt to complete one later. "Thanks," she smiled. "I'll think about it."

Another thought found its way into her mind. She could go underwater to see if she could hold her breath with ease... if she could, then she knew that the chances of her being a ninja would go up tremendously. Quickly, she held her breath and dropped into the water, and once she opened her eyes, she felt different. She could see so _clearly_. And she also realized that it was so much easier to hold her breath for longer. She quickly emerged from the water after that and smiled broadly, knowing well that no one except for maybe Savanna knew why she had done that so suddenly.

Detecting waves of excitement coming from Sammy, Savanna briefly turned around and flashed a grin at her. _That means you're a ninja like me, Sammay! _she thought. After hearing Naruto's comment, she pondered about the meaning for a few seconds. _What does he mean? Not only my games are great? _Still smiling a little, she asked, "Thanks, Naruto. So... I guess just my other things are great...?"

Neji smiled back at Sammy. _Why did her response make me feel warm inside?_ he wondered. _This is certainly unlike anything I've experienced before... Something about her makes me just want to... Stay with her..._

Speculating Neji, Tenten slightly narrowed her eyes. _When Neji smiles, _she thought, _it's never one like that. It's always a small one, but that his shows so much feeling. _Suspiciously, she shifted her gaze to the pretty blonde Neji directed his smile at. _Ahhhh,_ she understood.

Sasuke let out a bitter laugh, still crouching behind Choji's chair. "Yeah... Ino being crazy is an understatement."

Kiba jumped at Sasuke's voice, his eyes searching around for said ninja until he found him. "Jeez, Sasuke... I got out of the pool so I could get _away_ from Ino's obsession over you! Whenever I'm near you, I'm dragged into what madness occurs, and I just _have_ to happen to sit near you."

Sasuke glared. "I thought you said you could smell me. It's funny how you didn't figure out where I was."

"Well- Er- Uh- Yeah!" Kiba sputtered, his eyes turning into white circles. "I could smell you, but I couldn't pinpoint the exact location, that's all! I'm not a dog!"

"Yeah, right," Sasuke muttered.

Kiba opened his mouth so he could say something more, but Shikamaru cut in. "You're complaining that you always get dragged into trouble when you're around him," he pointed out. "If you don't want the same thing to happen again, then why don't you both just shut up? It would make everything less troublesome."

Absentmindedly glancing at Sasuke behind Choji's chair, Savanna noticed that Sasuke's hair was already spiking up again despite the fact that he was in the water five minutes ago. _Hey, Sammay,_ she thought. _Check out Sasuke's hair. It's like it's in his hair's nature to be "duckbutty" like you call it! Haha..._

Sammy craned her neck to the side to see his duckbutty hair. Once she had gotten a good look, she noted that Savanna was correct... his hair was, in fact, turning into a duckbutt again. _If only they had actual salons or barber shops here, _she thought. _If they did, I would set him up for a major hair cut. But since they unfortunately don't... I'll find a way to get rid of it... just watch._

After observing his annoying hair, Sammy turned back to Neji. She was suddenly overwhelmed with such a warm and happy feeling as she did so. _I know that this feeling isn't me for once, _she thought. _So who is it coming from?_

It only took her a second to figure it out. It was from Neji... but why?

Kiba wanted to bark back at Shikamaru, but he decided against it at the last second. He knew that if he were to shout too loudly, Ino would definitely hear and make her way over to the boys... whilst finding Sasuke. And he _definitely_ did not want that. Sasuke seemed to think the same, since his jaw had clamped shut as well.

"I know he's out here... _I know it_..." Ino whispered, and it almost sounded like a threat. She sniffed the ground, continuing to track his scent down. "I can't locate him... maybe he is in the pool and the water is blocking his scent!"

Ino belly-flopped into the cool water right after she had said it. Sadly enough for her, he wasn't where she thought. _DARN!_ she thought. _I'll have to look harder!_

"Everything about you is great, Savanna," Naruto explained. "Everything about you is more than great... Everything about you is absolutely amazing." The smile that was already plastered onto his face grew even more as he thought about her. Her brown hair, her perfect, gleaming eyes... He could stare into them forever. If only.

When Savanna listened to Naruto's complement combined with his thoughts, a big feeling of happiness swelled within her, and she couldn't prevent the blush that spread over her cheeks. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him and this world, but it was like her immense feelings rendered her into a stunned state. _You're amazing as well, Naruto, _she thought. _Everyone here is amazing, too, but you're just so kind and good-looking..._

Even though it was only a few seconds, it felt like minutes before Savanna could somewhat organize part of her thoughts into words. "Thanks, Naruto," she acknowledged. "That's really sweet of you... I'm glad I'm a good person..." _I'm glad I'm a good person?_ she repeated in her head. _I can be so stupid sometimes! Why did I say that? Ugh... _Her thoughts shifting to Sasuke, she mentally asked Sammy, _Oh yeah?_ _How in the world are you going to make Sasuke's hair less duckbutty? Haha, that's impossible... No matter what, the spikes in the back of his head are going to stay there. Forever._

Seeing Ino dive into the pool, Sasuke stood up and stretched because his muscles were getting tense and sore from squatting behind Choji's chair. As he was doing so, he noticed Sammy regarding him with an expression he couldn't quite describe from the pool. _Why is she looking at me like that?_ he wondered.

Also looking at Sammy, Neji wondered the same thing as Sasuke. "You look like you're scrutinizing Sasuke," he observed. "Is there something about him you don't like?"

Giving up on searching in the pool, Ino climbed out via the ladder and made a mad dash for the hot tub, not even noticing Sasuke standing up on the back porch. "This is probably going to hurt, but if you're in there, Sasuke, it'll totally be worth it!" she cried, jumping into the hot tub and fully immersing herself into the steaming water.

_I'll find a way,_ Sammy repeated in her mind. She averted her gaze from Sasuke to Neji. "I guess," she answered plainly, folding her arms. "He just... irks me. The way he thinks."

_ If water can make Sasuke's hair go down for a couple of minutes, _she thought, a plan stirring up in her mind, _then I'm going to have to get the water to make his hair stay down for a long time... _

Naruto chuckled. "You should be," he replied, not noticing Savanna's embarrassment at all. "Because you are definitely a good person."

Sasuke shook his head, deciding that something was probably on Sammy's mind, and she was absentmindedly looking at him with that expression while thinking. He looked away from where she was standing and narrowed his eyes at Ino after watching her jump into the burning water. "She's so clueless," he muttered disapprovingly. "Ino has run right past me multiple times, and she just jumped into a hot tub?"

"I agree with you this time, Sasuke," Kiba sighed, observing Ino as she splashed and thrashed around the hot tub. "If I were her, I definitely wouldn't have done that. If I were her, I wouldn't be chasing you around. And I wouldn't dress like she does, or have my hair grown out to be _that_ long..."

Kiba continued to list things that he would change if he were Ino. Sasuke sighed and blocked him out. He instead stayed on high alert and watched Ino fling herself from the hot tub into the pool. The Uchiha ducked behind Choji's chair again once she resurfaced, her skin pink from the burning water.

"Oh, why can't I find you?!" she cried. "But I know I'm getting closer to you, Sasukeeee! I'll find you eventually!"

After hearing Ino's obsessive screech, Kiba trailed off. _If Sasuke wasn't such a jerk all the time,_ he thought, _I would actually maybe feel bad for him. Heh, heh... But he totally deserved being molested by Ino..._

Behind Choji's chair, Sasuke scowled at the ground. _Why does Ino have to like me, out of all people? Why?_

_Sometimes, I'm grateful for Naruto's obliviousness, _Savanna thought, laughing softly. "You're a good person, too," she complemented. "And a very strong ninja."

Neji smirked, fully understanding how Sammy felt. _There's one more thing we have in common, _he thought. _It's getting more difficult to stay away from her... _"I understand," he expressed. "Sasuke annoys me as well... He needs to be more considerate to other people. If he was, then everyone would probably be more willing to aid him in eluding Ino." His silvery eyes flicked over to said kinoichi, who was now roaming the flower garden bordering the fence in search of the raven-haired boy.

Listening to the ruthless plan conjuring in Sammy's mind, Savanna's smile grew. _I do really like Sasuke,_ she thought, _but even I agree that seeing that happen would be hilarious!_ Closing her fingers around Naruto's wrist again, she pulled him out of the pool.

_She keeps on grabbing my wrist, _he thought, smiling as she did so. _Does she maybe like me? No... probably not... _

Sammy nodded, slightly surprised at how much Neji was getting along with her. Before she had arrived in this world, she was positive that he would find her as someone extremely annoying. "And if he got rid of his hairstyle..." she added, but directed it more to herself than to Neji.

"Oh, Sasukeeee!" Ino sung, standing on her tiptoes. "Come out, come out, wherever you are! We were meant to be with each other since the very beginning! Why are you hiding? Are you conversing with someone? Is that why you're not responding, since you can't hear me?"

_Shut up, Ino,_ Kiba thought, narrowing his eyes in irritation. _You are so oblivious to the fact that Sasuke definitely does not like you. Why won't you just leave him alone? You're annoying me, too..._

Meanwhile, as Choji sat in his chair, his stomach growled the slightest bit. "You know," he began, "I'm starting to get hungry again. I think I'm gonna head back into the kitchen for a few minutes to grab something to eat."

At that, he stood up and walked away, leaving Sasuke completely visible. _Oh, no, _he thought, and immediately scrambled over to hide behind Shikamaru's chair instead. But, unfortunately, said person stood up and began following Choji's footsteps, revealing Sasuke again. "I'm not staying out here without Choji," he sighed. "It's too troublesome..."

Quickly, Sasuke scrambled to his feet and started to make his way to the back door. However, Ino just happened to turn around, putting him in her field of vision, so he had no choice but to dive for a nearby bush.

Kiba had watched this entire scene and found it very amusing, so no matter how much he tried, he couldn't help himself from cracking up. _Hahaha! Sasuke looks so stupid! _Unfortunately, this caught Ino's attention, so she pranced over to him with a mischievous expression on her face.

"Why, hello, Kiba," she purred in a rather strange tone.

Kiba immediately stopped laughing and straightened up, his eyes widening. _Oh, crap,_ he thought. _This is exactly what I was afraid of! Can't a guy be allowed to laugh?_ "Uh... hi, Ino," he nervously said.

The mischievous expression still on her face, Ino slightly lowered her eyelids and leaned towards Kiba, her voice softening further. "Soo... What were you laughing about?"

"Nothing," he immediately answered.

Ino tilted her head to the right, her light blonde bangs falling to the side and revealing her right eye. "Oh, really?" she inquired. "I see... It's funny how you were laughing although _nobody was here._"

Kiba sweatdropped, mentally cursing in his mind. _How can she sound so cunning even though she's really a psycho maniac?_ For once, he couldn't think of a reasonable excuse. "Well... Um. Yeah. It was... You know, one of those moments."

Unbeknownst to Neji, Sammy's comment wasn't meant for him, but he responded to her regardless. "His hairstyle is so unusual..." he trailed off.

Reading Naruto's mind, Savanna almost stopped in her tracks. _He... He's wondering if I like him? Of course I do... So much... _Turning around, she flashed a smile at Naruto and motioned Sammy to follow her so her cousin could carry out her plan.

Sammy caught Savanna's message and quickly turned back to face Neji. "Yeah, it looks like a duckbutt. Anyway, um, I've gotta go take care of that... so I _will_ see you in a second," she said abruptly, turning and wading through the water until she reached the edge. She lifted herself up and stepped out of the pool, right as she noticed the ladder that sat right next to her. "There's a ladder?!" she exclaimed, even though getting out of the water the way she did wasn't a nuisance, since she had gotten a lot stronger since she arrived in the world. "Oh, whatever! Let's go..."

Naruto looked at the two questioningly. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"We're going to do something that should've been done a long time ago," Sammy explained, eyeing Sasuke as he hid in the bush. He was standing up, trying to get away while Ino was distracted.

Naruto followed her gaze and narrowed his eyes as he saw Sasuke. "Um... what are we gonna do with Sasuke?"

Said person slowly stood up, watching intently as Ino leaned into Kiba, trying to intimidate him. _Now's my chance, _he thought, swiftly running from behind the bush and into the house from the back door. Ino, so determined to find Sasuke, didn't notice that the person she was looking for had disappeared from the backyard.

"Are you sure that's the case?" she asked the Inuzuka, leaning even farther so their noses weren't even an inch apart from each other. Kiba payed attention to that fact, and an idea to make her get away from him popped into his mind... their lips weren't too far away for each other, either.

"What are you trying to pull, Ino?" he asked smoothly, his surprised expression fading, a smug one replacing it. Her eyes widened slightly and she pulled herself back an inch or two.

"What?" she asked cluelessly. _That's not what I was expecting him to say, she thought, _waiting for an answer to her bland question.

"What are you trying to pull?" he repeated, folding his arms. "You were getting pretty close to me... maybe... to steal a kiss?"

Ino's eyes turned into white circles. "WHAT?! HECK! NO!" she cried, flying back from him. "YOU?! Oh. NO. I'm definitely for SASUKE. Not you!"

She ran away from him after that, leaving Kiba to relax. _I knew that'd get her away, _he thought.

Savanna couldn't hold back the giggle that escaped her. "You'll find out sooner or later, Naruto," she replied in a mysterious tone. "I have a feeling that you'll like what you'll see." _Sammay, it's so much fun to finally control what happens in this world! _she excitedly thought. _We really are living in our roleplay!_

Even though he was still confused, Naruto fell silent. _They're going to do something horrible to Sasuke,_ he concluded. _...But why am I looking forward to this? Sasuke's my friend! But I also kind of want to see what they're going to do to him... Hehe._

Meanwhile, Shikamaru lightly dozed on the couch in the living room, his arm hanging off the side while Choji grazed on some snacks in the kitchen. However, the Nara's sleep was rudely interrupted when Sasuke dashed into the living room and threw himself on the chair, breathing heavily. The bush that he had dove into before just _happened_ to have thorns, so he proceeded to pick them out from his arms one by one, slightly wincing at each pluck. _What am I going to do now_? Sasuke wondered. _Ino's eventually going to come stalking in here, and I'm just going to have to keep on running. My life sucks. _

After Sasuke's frantic sprint into the main room, Shikamaru jolted up from his temporary bed, his eyes widening for a split second until they rested on the exhausted Sasuke. "What the heck, Sasuke? I was sleeping."

"Not my problem," Sasuke defended, finally pulling out the last thorn. "I have a much bigger complication right now."

_Maybe if you were a little nicer, then you would get some help in solving that problem, _Shikamaru bitterly thought. However, instead of muttering anything, Shikamaru directed one last disapproving look at Sasuke before resuming his sleeping position on the couch.

_Poor Shikamaru,_ Savanna thought. _He does deserve some sleep, but it's imperative that Sammay and I get a hold of Sasuke right now... _Quickly, she glanced at the remains of the far left window where Lee had leaped out. _Seriously... Where was he before he broke my window? _she questioned. _I even saw Lee go out into the backyard... With that and his knowledge about Chicken, Lee certainly is interesting. _Averting her eyes from the shards of glass covering the ground, she directed her attention to Naruto and Sammy once again, leading them inside her fanfiction home. "Hey, look," she pointed out more so to Naruto than to Sammy. "There's Sasuke in the living room."

Sasuke heard his name from a few yards away and glanced up. Sammy looked at him as well and waved, along with an eye closed grin. _She's up to something, _he thought, sending a blank stare back at her. _And Savanna and Naruto are helping her with it..._

Sammy read his mind and felt slightly offended. _How come he automatically assumed it was me plotting the whole thing?_ she thought, but then she mentally laughed. _Oh, what the heck. It's probably clear that I'm not too fond of the guy._

"Hey, Sasuke! I have something I want to show you in the laundry room!" she called out to him, waving her arm. That didn't sound suspicious at all, she thought.

_That doesn't sound too convincing,_ he thought, studying the girl, _but I feel the need to go into the laundry room, anyway... _

Sammy strolled into the laundry room (somehow knowing where it was), Savanna and Naruto trailing behind her. "This is going to be fun..." she smiled mischievously and waited for her enemy to enter.

"Stupid Kiba," Ino muttered, looking behind the bush Sasuke had been hiding behind only minutes before. "How could he think I like him? I am clearly in love with Sasukeee..."

_Oh, I know,_ Kiba thought, overhearing Ino's statement. _You have definitely made that fact quite clear..._

Ino blinked, a sudden idea popping into her mind. "What if my Sasukeeee isn't even in the house?!" she gasped. "He could be... ON THE ROOF!" Almost immediately, she scrambled up the fence and leaped onto the roof, squealing from time to time.

When Kiba observed her perform the stunt, his condescending expression contorted to that of extreme surprise. _What... The... Heck?_

In the pool, Lee constantly jogged from one side of the shallow end to the other (albeit very slow because of the water), obviously attempting to train in any way, shape, or form. "This... is so hard!" he panted.

Neji, who was sitting at the edge of the pool nearby, crossing his arms and shook his head. "Lee, you look completely absurd when you do that," he reprimanded. "Just be a somewhat normal person for once and relax while you're swimming."

Lee continued to run around as quickly as he could in the shallow end as though Neji's comment didn't affect him. "Training is very important to me!" he announced. "I must strive to become a stronger ninja!"

Just by listening to Lee's response, Neji felt like face-palming. "I greatly value training as well," he explained, "but it's really not necessary to train all the time, Lee. Relaxing actually helps you become stronger... Sometimes, it can even be considered another form of training."

Lee finally stopped jogging and stared at Neji, wonder and awe glistening in his wide, round eyes. "Relaxing is... training?"

_ I never did say those exact words,_ thought Neji. _However, if that idea will cause Lee to act semi-normal, then I'll gladly take that chance. _"Yes," he replied. In a softer voice, he followed with, "...To a certain point."

Although Sasuke was very confused at the moment, he nonetheless made his way to the laundry room and stepped inside, encountering Naruto, Sammy, and Savanna. _Why in the world does she want me to come in here?_ he wondered.

Regarding Sasuke's perturbed expression, Savanna had to stifle another giggle. The urge to laugh only grew as she watched her cousin press the "on" button for the washer, consequentially starting to fill it with water. Naruto looked just as confounded as Sasuke did, further amplifying Savanna's desire to laugh.

Sammy somehow kept all of her laughs on the inside as she smiled at Sasuke, waiting for the washer to fill up with a certain amount of water. Normally in this situation she would be at a breaking point of laughing. "Sorry... the washer has to be ready in order for me to show you the thing I'm going to show you." she grinned, peeking inside.

"What exactly are you planning on showing me?" he asked, sounding a bit annoyed. _What's there to show in a washer, anyway?_ he thought, and almost smiled as an image of Itachi's head rolling around in a washer appeared in his mind.

"Not a head," Sammy muttered after reading his mind. Her smile reappeared after only a moment, though. "But it _does_ have something to do with heads... come on over..."

Sasuke reluctantly approached the blonde, not sure if what she was about to 'show' him was safe or not. She continued to grin innocently as he slowly walked towards her. After a second or two, he was around a foot away from her.

"Go on," she nodded, motioning to the washer door. "Open it."

He narrowed his eyes, but he looked down and opened the door nonetheless. When he only found the swishing of water, he began to raise his head again, questioningly. But he didn't get around to do that...

...since Sammy grabbed him by his hair and shoved his head inside.

"WHHUUFF!" Sasuke yelled... as much as he could in the water.. "MRFFUFLE!" he began to struggle, but he couldn't break free since he was being held down by Sammy's sudden strength.

"DON'T WORRY!" she guffawed, laughing almost evilly. "We're just giving you a little MAKEOVER!"

Lee gasped. "I am doing this all wrong!" he exclaimed, and he hurriedly began to float on his back. "I am relaxing! Relaxing! The newest form of training... RELAXING!"

Neji was distracted as he heard yells from inside of the house, one of them being Sammy's. _What in the world...? _he thought, turning so he could see inside through the broken window.

Ino frowned as she didn't see anyone on the roof. "Sasukeee!" she called out, her flirty voice echoing. "Where are you, honey buns?! We haven't seen each other for a matter of minutes, and that is just unacceptable!"

When nothing responded to her but the following gentle breeze, she cupped her hands around her mouth and took in a deep breath. "Sasukeeeeeee!" she yelled at a much higher intensity of volume.

A few seconds later, a distant voice could be heard, responding to her call. "SHUT UP! I DON'T CARE IF YOUR BOYFRIEND RAN AWAY!"

Freezing for a couple of seconds, Ino blinked, a little caught off guard. _I wish he was my boyfriend, _she wistfully thought. However, nothing embarrassed her whenever it had something to do with her obsession, so she merely shrugged and jumped off the roof into the front yard, continuing her search for a certain raven-haired boy.

Speaking of a raven-haired boy, Sasuke still thrashed around while Sammy continued to stuff his head into the washer.

_HOLY CRAP! _Savanna screamed in her mind. Immediately after she saw Sasuke's head get forced into the washer full of water, her willpower crumbled and she collapsed to the floor in laughter. "Hahahahaha!" she chortled. "Sas... Sasuke... looks so...!" Hilarious! The intense laughter didn't even permit her to finish her sentence, and her sides felt like they were going to split open, but she didn't really care at the moment.

Naruto wasn't in much of a better position than Savanna. The sight of Sasuke suffocating in the washer was simply too hysterical for him, so although he wasn't rolling on the ground like Savanna, he bent over from extreme laughter. _I would have never guessed that something like this would happen to Sasuke!_ he amusingly thought.

After a minute or so of crying of laughter, Savanna wiped her eyes and forced herself to think rationally. _Sasuke probably can't breathe,_ she thought. _Sure, ninja can hold their breaths for a very long amount of time, but not when they're breathing in water and flailing and screaming and... Hahahahaha!_ Just reminding herself about what Sasuke was going through combined with actually seeing it happen right in front of her sent Savanna into a fit of snickers once more.

Eventually, like all human beings, Sasuke required air to live, so Sammy had no choice but to jerk him backwards by the head, sending him to stumble to the nearby wall. His chest rose and fell as he heaved in ragged breaths of oxygen, gasping and sputtering along the way. Like Sammy foresaw, his formally "duckbutty" hair hung straight down like loose yarn because of the recent exposure to water, and his dark eyes could've set fire to anything he wanted due to his intense feelings of hatred towards everybody. Sasuke wasn't capable of speaking at the moment, so he just settled to focusing on breathing, ignoring the water dripping from his bangs onto his face. _I am going to kill every single person who knew this was going to happen,_ he vehemently thought. _I am going to-_

Sasuke didn't get a chance to finish his thought because a sudden shriek sounded from above. Everyone in the laundry room quickly looked up and consequently witnessed the body of Sakura come crashing down on top of Sasuke from the ceiling, crushing him as a result.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: No, we aren't lucky enough to own Naruto Shippuden. **

**Banana: I love this chapter for so many reasons! Heh, heh... *cough cough* Deidara... 3**

**Sammay: I love Neji- I mean this chapter for so many reasons, too! :D Ha, Ha... Ha...**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Sammy began to laugh so hardly that tears streamed down her pink cheeks. "OH... OH MY GOODNESS!" she cried, the image of Sakura flying down from the ceiling making her laugh even harder. She didn't care how it happened at that moment, and only enjoyed herself.

"I just heard Sakura's screech. Did they find her?" Choji asked urgently, and it showed that he was still worried about losing the annoying pinkette. He surprisingly dropped his chips and made his way into the laundry room. Everything he saw surprised him as well, and he even started chuckling a bit once he saw Sasuke and Sakura on the floor and the large hole shaped like Sakura in the ceiling.

Lee lifted his head from being partly submerged into the water. "What is going on in there?" he asked Neji, who could see inside of the home through the broken window. "I just heard a large crash!"

"AAAAAHHH! AAAAAHHHHHH!" Sakura shrieked, still processing where she was. Sasuke furiously kicked from under her, but her weight was _too much_ for him.

"_Will someone get this fat lard off of me?!_" he yelled in agony, his bones beginning to feel like they would crack. Her weight was something he couldn't handle!

Kiba craned his neck from his spot outside to see what was going on inside, but he couldn't spot anything too odd. He knew that something was going on somewhere in there, since he heard Sasuke, of all people, call someone a fat lard. "I have to check this out," he murmured, bolting inside and following the source of the screams.

Once he skidded to a stop in front of the laundry room, Kiba blinked and tried to take in everything in front of him. "Wow, uh... There's Sakura," he muttered to himself. "So that's where she went... But how did she get there? And why _is she on top of Sasuke?_" A few seconds later, his eyes suspiciously shifted to the rather large hole in the ceiling where Sakura had emerged from before.

_How did Sakura get from that cupboard to here without me noticing?_ Choji wondered. _Well, at least she doesn't seem hurt by me stuffing her in there... _He continued to openly stare at Sasuke and Sakura on the floor.

Sasuke noticed Choji and Kiba appear in the doorway, so he glared at them while he struggled under the crazy Haruno. "Why are you guys just standing there?" he barked. "Can't you see that I'm being suffocated?!"

Completely ignoring Sasuke's words, Sakura finally seemed to notice him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a crushing embrace. "Oh, Sasuke!" she gushed. "We're finally together again! I missed you so much! And Ino-pig isn't here to ruin our love!"

_If only I could somehow capture this moment, _Kiba thought amusingly. "Sorry, Sasuke," he said with a smirk. "I would help you, but..." He laughed as he trailed off. _This is awesome payback for Sasuke being a jerk to everyone._

On the other hand, Choji, being a kind person, actually wanted to help Sasuke escape from Sakura, but he was too scared to do anything. _Sakura would decapitate me within seconds,_ he thought with a shiver.

As these events proceeded, Savanna felt like she was going to die from laughter. _Who would have expected Sakura to come crashing down from the ceiling and on top of Sasuke?_ She cracked up so much that she had to reach over and hold onto Naruto (giving her butterflies along the way) in order to prevent her from collapsing to the floor in a fit of giggles.

"We don't have love," Sasuke growled. "We don't even have friendship! Now get off of me or I'll be forced to go on the offensive."

Sakura jutted out her bottom lip in what was supposed to be a pout. "Oh, don't you say things like that, Sasuke," she whined. "You wouldn't-"

"Chidori!"

Sasuke cut Sakura off by slamming his fist enveloped with lightning into her torso. As a result, she flew into the nearby wall with a grunt. Luckily, the wall showed no signs of damage.

"I have no idea what's going on in there," Neji murmured. "Byakugan!"

As he observed the scene, a small, condescending frown made its way into his expression. "Ridiculous," he vented. "They found Sakura...Or Sakura found them."

Lee glanced over at Neji, taking in his annoyed comment. "Sakura left?" he asked, completely oblivious to the whole situation that had happened before with Choji and Sakura, and with the situation inside at that moment. "Where did they find her? Or... where did she find them?"

Naruto's smile grew larger as he felt Savanna hold onto him for support. He was laughing pretty hardly as well, and understood why she had reached over, but he still felt warm inside at her touch, nonetheless.

Sammy's laughter only got louder as Sasuke just about mauled Sakura into the wall. _Everything is so hysterical here, _she thought whilst laughing. _A lot more hysterical than boring Utah, that's for sure..._

Ino's ears perked up and she froze as Sasuke's signature line, 'Chidori' could be heard from inside. She gasped, giggled and began skipping gleefully towards the back door. "I'm coming, Sasuke! Oh, yes! I'm coooming!"

Sasuke somehow heard Ino's cries from the laundry room and groaned. _Why me?_ he thought, managing to stand up after being suffocated for a few seconds. He scanned the room, looking for a place to hide, since he figured that he couldn't make it into another room before the obsessed Yamanaka spotted and tackled him.

Savanna finally regained control of her laughing, but she still held on to Naruto. "There's no place for you to hide, Sasuke," she remarked with a smirk. "Well... Except for that hole in the ceiling. But I don't even know what's up there..."

Sasuke peered desperately at the hole. "I don't care... I'll do anything to get away from _her._" Infusing chakra into his feet, he quickly climbed up the wall and into the hole, disappearing from sight.

Naruto's laughter died down to a chuckle. "Man, it's so funny to see Sasuke so helpless like that!"

To be honest, Savanna did feel some pity for Sasuke because she knew fully well how much of a nuisance Sakura (and sometimes Ino) was. However, the joy of being in the Naruto world mixed with Sasuke fearing for his life was simply too hilarious for her to feel bad for anyone at the moment.

Kiba grinned and nodded at Naruto. "I know, right? This is the best show I've seen in a long time."

Overhearing Naruto and Kiba's comments from the dark recess in the ceiling, Sasuke scowled. _What losers,_ he thought. _I always have to save their hides whenever we're in battle... Let's see how they like it when I won't help them next time._

I few seconds later, Ino burst into the laundry room breathing heavily, as if she had run a marathon. "Sasukeeee?" she gasped. "Where are you?"

Choji stared at her with wide eyes. _I know she can be a little nuts sometimes,_ he thought, _but how in the world did she hear Sasuke from outside? And how did she know where he was?_

"Well, he's not in the room," Savanna pointed out. Technically, Sasuke really wasn't in the room... He was in some place in the ceiling.

"But I know he was here!" Ino retorted. Suddenly, her voice dropped down to a malicious whisper. "..._I know he was here._"

Choji couldn't take Ino's creepiness anymore, so he slowly edged out of the room and made his way back outside. _I don't really want anything to do with that weird situation, _he thought.

From the pool, Neji looked at the hole in the ceiling, and then to Sakura's dilapidated form against the wall. "From what I see," he observed, "I'm assuming that Sakura was somehow hiding in the ceiling, waiting for Sasuke to come into the laundry room. When he made his entrance, she crashed down from the ceiling on top of him. Next, he proceeded to use his Chidori on her, sending her into the nearby wall. Now, he looks like he's hiding in the hole Sakura was in before."

If possible, Lee's eyes grew even bigger than they already were. Or... It could have just been Neji's imagination. "That... That is crazy!" he exclaimed.

Sammy examined Ino, debating on whether giving Sasuke away yet again, or keeping quiet. After a moment, she decided on saving Sasuke's sorry butt. She _did_ shove his head into the washer. Sammy knew she wasn't pure evil and did as she told herself by keeping her mouth shut.

"One of you knows where he is," Ino growled darkly. "Maybe even all of you... SO SPIT IT OUT!"

"I don't know anything!" Kiba lied, putting his hands up. "Nothing at all."

As Kiba created an excuse, Naruto smiled mischievously and slid out of the room without Ino noticing. Sammy eyed him as he escaped. She didn't want to spoil whatever his plan was, so she didn't read his mind.

"I just came in here," Kiba continued. "And when I did, Sasuke wasn't in here. The only ones who were in here were—"

Suddenly, Naruto burst back into the room and spit out a mouthful of water on Ino from behind. He started cackling with laughter afterwards.

Ino screeched and spun around. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR, NARUTO?!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Naruto continued to laugh, and everyone else did too as they got Naruto's reasoning even before he explained.

"You told me to spit it out, so that's what I did!"

"I didn't mean it LITERALLY!"

At that, Ino went for Naruto, and he immediately responded by running out of the room, Ino following. _So that was his plan, after all, _Sammy thought, still laughing. _To save his friend while having fun at the same time._

Still standing in the same spot as before, Kiba blinked and stared at the empty doorway Naruto and Ino had gone through. "Well, that went well."

_That's one thing I love about Naruto so much,_ Savanna thought admiringly. _He's willing to do anything for his friends, even if it's detrimental to his health. Although, he really should think of himself once in a while... _She caught a small movement out of the corner of her eye, and she directed her gaze to Sakura's twitching fingers.

After observing her distorted body for a few seconds, Savanna wrinkled her nose in displeasure. "Ugh," she groaned almost unthinkingly. "Sakura is so... Ugly. Someone should really get rid of her..."

Sighing, Neji waded over to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out. "I believe I've had enough of swimming," he told Lee. "Things are beginning to get rather hectic in there... I might be able to calm them down." Reminding himself of Ino's insatiable appetite for Sasuke, Neji added, "Or at least some of them."

Lee followed Neji's suit. "I think I shall go inside, as well," he stated. "I would like to practice my skills with that game, Dance Dance Revolution!"

With Ino on his heels, Naruto sprinted upstairs and down the hallway, bursting into Savanna's room. As soon as he entered, he slammed the door shut and pressed himself against it as Ino clawed at the door in an attempt to maim Naruto.

"You made a big mistake!" Ino screeched. "You're too much of an idiot to realize that I was using an expression!" She paused for a moment. "...And _you messed up my hair._"

Because he was Naruto, Naruto didn't mention how he really understood what Ino was trying to say before, or how he spit water on her to have fun and save Sasuke. Instead, he continued to pass his body against the door. "Who cares about hair?" he questioned. "I never brush mine, anyway!"

At Naruto's comment, Ino growled and shoved against the door with all of her strength. As a result, she pushed the door open slightly enough so she could slip inside of Savanna's room. Fixing her aqua eyes on Naruto's now-terrified form, she slowly started to advance towards him. "You will pay for what you've done," she whispered evilly. "You will- huh?"

Noticing the corner of one of Savanna's Naruto posters sticking out from under the bed, she leaned down and unrolled it. Immediately, her expression changed to that of pleasure, and she glued her eyes to the poster. Seeming to completely forget about Naruto, she gushed, "Oh, this is Sasukeeeeee! He looks so handsome in this poster! Is he a model? Is that why he's on here? I wouldn't be surprised if he was a model because he's so hawt!"

Naruto didn't even think twice about the fact that she had a poster of Sasuke but not one of him (to his knowledge), and bolted out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Ino, still inside, continued to dreamily stare at the photo of Sasuke, not even caring about murdering Naruto anymore. Naruto blew out a puff of air he didn't realize he was holding in.

"I'll get rid of her, gladly," Kiba muttered, swinging her limp body over his shoulder. "I'll do anything to get rid of this ugly nut ball." He walked out of the room and threw Sakura out of the hole in the window Lee created.

"That was close," Naruto murmured, whilst entering the laundry room once again. "Ino got distracted in Savanna's room, so I made a run for it."

Kiba walked back into the room, hearing Naruto's statement as he made his way in. "That was pretty awesome, Naruto," he complimented, walking around him to stand next to Savanna.

Meanwhile, Neji and Lee experienced a flying Sakura outside. She landed into the pool with a splash.

"Yeah. We should probably check it out," Neji sighed, walking into the house, not even regarding Sakura. Lee followed him in, a bit excited to see what was actually going on in the laundry room. Sammy smirked as a plan formed in her mind after noticing Sakura's presence land into the pool. She managed to slip out of the room just as Neji and Lee walked in. Walking out of the home and into the backyard, she stood by the pool and waited as Sakura regained consciousness.

A few moments later, Sakura emerged from the water, coughing and gasping for breath. After she recovered, both of the girls made eye contact. Before Sakura could say anything, Sammy pounced on the pinkette, resulting in them both going underwater, and a few more seconds went by, when suddenly Sakura could be seen flying up from the pool caused by a powerful kick.

Shikamaru and Choji, regarding the scene from the patio with looks of surprise, watched her fly off into the distance until she could be seen no more. "Whoa," Choji breathed. "I wonder how much chakra it took to kick her that far away..."

"Probably a lot," Shikamaru guessed. "Well, at least Sakura's gone. She's so troublesome."

Even though Choji's viewpoint with Shikamaru was the same on the inside, he automatically hesitated to agree on the outside. "...I don't know," he said with a hint of uncertainty. "She... Wasn't that bad, was she?"

Deadpan, Shikamaru stared at Choji. "It doesn't take a lot of thinking, Choji," he explained. "If you compare the pros and the cons of having Sakura around, there would be no pros and a heck of a lot of cons."

Choji pondered over Shikamaru's explanation for a moment. Finally, he gave in to his inner opinion. "Yeah, you're right," he agreed.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Ino decided that she couldn't part with the poster of Sasuke in her hands. "I can't just leave this here when Sasuke looks so beautiful on this," he whispered. "I have to... I have to take it!" Quickly peeking out the door into the hallway to make sure nobody was near, she rolled up the poster and stuffed it into her top. "Huh," she observed. "I didn't know that would actually fit! Now it's mineeee. Hehehehe."

Savanna facepalmed and sighed when she read Ino's mind. _First, she takes my bra, and then she takes my favorite poster of Sasuke? At the next party, I'm going to ban her from going into my room... But that probably wouldn't stop her from entering._

Kiba looked down at Savanna and rested his hand on her shoulder, giving her faint butterflies as a result. "What's wrong? Ino's not going on a rampage anymore."

Savanna quickly raised her head. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that knowing Ino, she would only get distracted by something related to Sasuke, you know?"

Naruto slightly narrowed his eyes at Kiba's hand on Savanna's shoulder. _Wow, Savanna is right on, _he thought. _She seems to be right about everything... But that's probably because she's so smart! Yeahh. _

Dragging her attention away from Kiba's touch, Savanna became increasingly aware of a small weight in her pocket. Reaching into her pocket, she almost gasped when she pulled out her android. _Wait. I thought that I wouldn't have anything from my own world when my iTouch disappeared... This is awesome! Do I still have all of my contacts?_

Kiba and Naruto looked at Savanna's phone with a mixture of confusion and awe. In an attempt to see what was on the screen as she scrolled through her contacts, Naruto stepped closer. "Oohhh. What's that?" he asked excitedly.

"It's my cellphone," Savanna replied. "I totally forgot that I..." Her green eyes grew wide as she spotted the Akatsuki member, Hidan, as one of her contacts.

If possible, Naruto and Kiba inched even closer. "What? What is it?" they questioned almost in unison.

Her eyes still glued to Hidan's name, Savanna answered in a daze. "I didn't know I had Hidan's number..." she trailed off.

Naruto frowned. "Huh? Who's Hidan?"

_Should I tell them that he's an Akatsuki member? _Savanna thought. _Nah... _"He's just my friend," she replied with a small smile.

"_Just_ your friend?" inquired Kiba. "And nothing more?"

"Yes, just a friend," Savanna said with a laugh. As she continued to scroll down her contacts, a thought suddenly occurred to her. _If... If I have Hidan's number, then...? _She wouldn't even allow herself to think of her favorite Naruto character's name as she now frantically swiped at her android's screen. Several seconds later, Savanna could barely hold in a gasp as she saw Deidara's name mixed in with the rest of her contacts.

Savanna felt Naruto and Kiba's stares on her face as she shakily pressed the call button and held her phone to her ear, but she blatantly ignored them. Mentally, she was freaking out on the inside. _Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! This is a dream-come-true... I love Deidara so much! If I actually heard his voice in real life, then I don't know what I would-_

Her thoughts were interrupted when the receiver on the other end of the call picked up the phone after only two rings. "Hello, un?" came Deidara's reply.

_ ASDFGHJKL!_ Savanna was so surprised that she let out a little squeak and dropped the phone. However, she quickly came to her senses and retrieved the phone from the ground. Naruto and Kiba jumped a little at her reaction and then continued to intently observe what she was doing.

"Um, h-hi..." she stammered out. _Holy crap, _she thought. _Am I actually speaking to Deidara?!_

There was a brief pause from the other end of the call. "Hm? Is this Savanna?" Deidara inquired.

At the sound of his voice saying her name, Savanna nearly dropped her phone again. She marveled at the sound for a second, but then she remembered to reply and hastily said the first thing that came to her mind. "Oh! Yes... Yes, this is Savanna." _Wow, I sound so stupid, _she thought. "Uhhh... I'm having a party at my house right now... Do you maybe want to come?"

"Leader Pein ordered me to watch over the idiot, Tobi, un," Deidara stated. "So I'm not sure if I can make it."

_I would give anything to be able to see Deidara in person,_ Savanna thought. "N-No, that's okay!" she quickly said. "Just bring Tobi along with you... I'm sure he would like to come, too!"

There was a slightly bigger pause on Deidara's end. "Alright, hm," he finally decided. "See you in about twenty minutes."

Still fangirling on the inside, Savanna murmured, "Okay, see you..."

** - Meanwhile, a number of miles away -**

"Deidaraaa, who were you just talking to?!" Tobi questioned. "Was it Hidan?! Oh, I hope so! I just love Hidan! So was it Hidan?"

Deidara narrowed his eyes and continued walking, shoving his phone back into his pocket. "Shut up, Tobi, hm. It was just Savanna, and now we're making a change of plans and going to her house for a party. Hm."

Tobi gasped with delight. "Savanna?! Party? Oh, boy, Deidara-Senpai! I love parties! Parties are just—they're just so much fun," he blabbered. "But do you know what I love even more than parties?! Hidan! Speaking of Hidan, I have his cellphone right here!"

Tobi fished around in his pocket and eventually pulled out what Deidara recognized as, indeed, Hidan's phone. "Why in the world do you have Hidan's—you know what? Hm. I'm not even going to ask..."

He began running away from Tobi, and then slowed down to a walk a couple hundred yards ahead of him. "That idiot can find Savanna's house on his own," he muttered to himself, taking a liking to the sudden silence that surrounded him, replacing Tobi's annoying cries of joy.

Tobi shrugged at his Senpai's disappearance and began tossing the phone up and down, catching it each time as he went. Whistling, he strolled along. Butterflies flew around him, bluebirds sang a song as he waltzed with some bunny rabbits. Hidan skipped along with him—CRASH!

The sudden noise startled Tobi as he came back to reality, his fantasy disappearing just as Deidara had done. Tobi stopped and looked down, seeing Hidan's phone shattered into tiny smithereens. He seemed to have missed Hidan's phone as he played with his imaginary friends! "Oops!" he cried, and continued to stroll along.

As he walked, a high screech could be heard from above. It got louder and louder as he continued to walk, and when he finally looked up, he saw an ugly girl falling from the sky.

"Eeep!" he exclaimed as the person slammed into the ground in a faceplant, the earth splitting and creating a hole underneath her. Tobi slowly approached the hole and peered inside, right as the ugliest, most hideous girl he had ever seen on the face of the earth managed to pop her head out of the hole.

"MY EYEEEESS!" he cried, running backwards away from the girl until he hit a tree... really hardly.

A deafening creak could be heard from above him in the tree, and he observed with terror as a giant tree house dropped onto the ugly pink-haired girl and over the hole.

"Oops!" he giggled again, and then ran away in search of Deidara.

Sammy laughed as she emerged and stepped out of the pool, brushing imaginary dust off of her swimsuit. "My work is done," she smiled, and began laughing even harder as she watched the treehouse fall onto Sakura in her head. Once she realized Choji and Shikamaru were giving her weird looks, she stopped laughing, straightened her back and cleared her throat. "Sorry about that. That was weird." At that, she walked back into the house like she hadn't just kicked Sakura Haruno out of a pool and out of the village.

Naruto looked at Savanna as she hung up the weird contraption that she held in her hand. _...A cellphone? Is that what she called it? _"Who the heck was that?" he asked after thinking over the small device for a moment or two.

"Yeah! Who was that?" Kiba repeated. He didn't like the dreamy face Savanna had on at all. He would've liked it if it were meant for him, but he knew it wasn't.

Just then, Sammy walked back into the room. Normally, she would've stopped dead in her tracks after seeing Neji again, but then her eyes landed on Savanna's phone. "What?!" she gasped, weaving through everyone in order to get to Savanna. "What? Where? How? I want mine! Well. My iTouch!"

Neji and Lee watched, as confused as ever. "What?" Lee asked no one in particular as he eyed the weird thing Savanna held.

Savanna kept on getting vibes of confusion from all of the people around her (with the exception of Sammy), so she held up her android. "This is my cellphone," she explained. "It lets you talk to other people from anywhere in the world if they have a cellphone, as well." _I guess only Akatsuki members have cellphones in this world, _she thought.

"Ooohhh," Naruto breathed. "Can I see it?"

"Sure," Savanna consented. When she placed her phone into Naruto's hands, he held it like it was as fragile as a piece of glass.

While everyone crowded around Naruto to get a better look, Savanna stepped back. She suspected that she was still gazing dreamily at nothing in particular, and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. _I just spoke to Deidara, _she repeated over and over in her mind. _And he knows who I am. And... I'll actually see him in person soon._

As Savanna tried to let her situation sink in, Naruto somehow found Itachi Uchiha's number and pressed the call button. "This has to be a joke," he exclaimed as he put the phone to his ear. "There's no way someone can just talk to Sasuke's brother like this!"

Above everyone in the hole in the ceiling, Sasuke stiffened when he heard his brother being mentioned. _Talk to my brother? _he thought. _People can't converse with him by using that contraption called a cellphone... Can they? _

After several rings, Itachi picked up his phone. "Hello?" His cool, low voice could be heard clearly from everyone in the laundry room.

"WHOA!" Naruto shouted, not paying attention to anyone else in the room. "Savanna was right again! You are Itachi! Unless this is genjutsu... Is it genjutsu?"

"No, this is not genjutsu," Itachi stated. "This is Naruto Uzumaki, isn't it? It's nearly impossible to mistake you for someone else."

_ That's it, _Sasuke thought while furrowing his eyebrows. _If that's Itachi, then I have to confront him. _Quickly, he dropped down from the hole in the ceiling and just happened to fall on Naruto, who dropped the phone with an "oof".

Quickly, Sasuke snatched up the phone from the ground and climbed off of Naruto. "Listen to me, Itachi," he growled. "I've gotten a lot stronger since the last time we've encountered-"

"What the heck?!" Naruto shot up and cut Sasuke off, his eyes white circles. "Gimme the phone! I was the one who called him!"

"No way," Sasuke refused. "I need to speak to Itachi."

While they fought over Savanna's cellphone, Neji shook his head. "Every time I'm near Naruto, I always witness something utterly absurd."

In the Akatsuki hideout, Itachi sighed and rested his head in the hand that wasn't holding his phone. "This is not worth my time," he decided as he flipped his phone closed, effectively ending the call.

Kisame, who was sitting in an armchair nearby, chuckled softly. "You look agitated," he observed. "Who called you?"

Itachi's Sharingan eyes rested on his team partner. "It was our former member, Savanna. However, Naruto Uzumaki picked up her phone."

"Ahhh, the Nine Tails?" Kisame questioned with a look of surprise.

Itachi confirmed his question with a slight nod of the head. "I briefly heard my foolish little brother, as well."

"Sasuke Uchiha, huh?" Kisame murmured, resting his chin on his hand.

Itachi again answered by nodding, and as he did so, he turned his gaze to look out the window.

Naruto or Sasuke didn't even notice that Itachi had ended the conversation by hanging up. They continued fighting over the phone, and everyone watched.

"So... how is everyone?" Kiba asked, trying to release the awkward tension in the room. No one took notice, though, and continued to watch the two boys argue.

"Wait!" Naruto yelled, interrupting their fight. He fixed his eyes on the phone and noticed how it was back on the contact screen. "What happened? We were just talking to Itachi!"

"Itachi hung up," Sammy explained with a sigh. "Knowing him, you guys were probably too loud for his liking, so he hung up."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "What do you mean by 'knowing him'? You've never met him."

Sammy sent him a grin. "No, I haven't met him. Your point?"

"How do you know about him if you haven't even met him?"

"You don't have to have met someone in order to know information about them," she stated.

Just then, an excited Ino burst into the room. "I found you, Sasukeee!" she squealed, shoving everyone aside as she tried to get to Sasuke. Once she did, she attempted to tackle him with a hug, but Sasuke moved out of the way just in time, and the obsessive blonde ended up tackling the floor. Sasuke took the opportunity and ran out of the room. Ino got up after only a second and ran after him. "Come back, honey!"

"I'll be right back," Sammy said suddenly. At that, she hurriedly walked out of the room, her iTouch calling her from her clothes outside. She knew that it had to be in one of her pockets if Savanna had her phone, and she suddenly felt desperate for the addicting device. She quickly stepped outside again and practically dove for her clothes, immediately grabbing her shorts and shoving her hand into the right pocket.

Nothing.

It was the moment of truth. She hopefully reached her other hand into the left pocket and almost squealed with joy when she felt the familiar texture of her case. Pulling it out, she jumped to her feet and ran back inside, ready to attack her cousin with happiness.

"I found it!" she cried with joy once she entered the room. Lifting her iPod up to show her cousin across the room, she began marching towards her. "It was in my pocket."

Snapping out of her trance, Savanna directed her attention to Sammy's iPod. "Yes!" she cried. "I couldn't survive without my iPod or my phone."

Naruto immediately made his way back to Savanna and handed the phone back to her. "This thing is pretty awesome," he said with a smirk. "It's unreal!"

Savanna laughed. "It does seem unreal, doesn't it?"

Neji felt like he had enough drama for the day, so he made his way out of the laundry room with Lee trailing behind. As soon as they entered the living room, Lee rushed over to the Dance Dance Revolution board and started scrolling through the songs. "I will perfect my skills of dancing!" he promised.

As Neji passed by the back door, he ran into Tenten and Hinata, who were just returning from the pool with towels draped around themselves. "I-I saw a group of people huddled together in the, um, laundry room, Neji," Hinata told him. "But why was that...?"

"There was a commotion involving Sakura and Sasuke," Neji explained. "Savanna also took out a machine called a cellphone. Apparently, it lets you talk to other people with their own cellphones no matter where you are."

"Whoa," Tenten cut into the conversation. "Is such a thing possible?"

Neji nodded. "Yes... I saw it with my own eyes."

Letting her eyes roam about the laundry room, Savanna thought, _I'm never going to look at this room the same way ever again._ Putting her phone back into her pocket, she strolled into the living room and plopped herself on the couch, impatiently waiting for Deidara to announce his presence at her door.

Naruto followed Savanna to the couch and sat down next to her, his body barely touching hers. "So... Who's this Deidara person that you've invited to the party?"

_Every time I hear his name, I'm filled with happiness... _"Well he has blonde hair like you, but it's longer. He also has blue eyes."

When Savanna didn't continue, the corners of Naruto's mouth pulled down slightly in a frown. "Hmph. Well, is he as good-looking as me?"

Savanna couldn't help the laugh that escaped her; Naruto's blunt questions threw her off guard most of the time. _I don't think anyone is as good-looking as Deidara, _she thought dreamily. _But I don't think I'm going to say that... Heh. Naruto is also very good-looking..._ "Haha! No, he isn't," she replied.

Naruto smiled as Savanna told him this, but his smile immediately faded after something that had been right in front of his eyes the whole time hit him right then. "Uh... Savanna? The D-Deidara you're talking about... doesn't happen to be in the Akatsuki... does he?"

In the laundry room, Sammy smiled as she unlocked her iPod. She hadn't been away from it for that long, but the fact that she could have it and use it in the Naruto world was so exciting. As she scrolled through emails and texts, she walked into the living room where everyone seemed to be going.

"I bet this song is going to be great!" Lee announced gleefully as he clicked on the song 'Livin' on a Prayer'. "By... Bonjovi? What a strange name for... for whatever that is!"

After waiting for only a moment more, the song began playing and all of the arrows began appearing at quite a high rate. It was only slightly overwhelming for Lee at first, but being a 'natural' at Dance Dance Revolution, he caught up quickly and didn't miss another step. Hinata went up to the bathroom to change, and listened to the odd song as they went. Neither of them had heard something quite as energetic as that one.

Kiba exited the laundry room and immediately noticed Lee's game (particularly his dancing) and approached him. "Can I play a game with you after this one, Lee?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Of course, Kiba!" Lee replied, not even out of breath as he continued to move around. "But I cannot promise that you will win! I have progressed and thrived in this game since the first time I have played it!"

"You played it for the first time not even two hours ago," Kiba retorted with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I know!" Lee cried out.

Kiba let out an exasperated huff of air. "Then you can't be _that_ good if you're that inexperienced," he muttered. "I'm sure I can beat you."

"You might want to take back those words!" Lee suggested as he finished his current song.

Kiba smirked as he stepped onto the second board adjacent to Lee. "Heh... If you know me, you know that I don't take back my words!"

Lee flashed a grin and a thumbs up at Kiba. "Then the best of luck to you, Kiba!" With that, Lee took the Dance Dance Revolution remote and chose a random song on the highest difficulty for them to compete on.

_I was wondering when he would catch on, _Savanna thought amusedly. _You would think that Naruto would immediately recognize the name of the Akatsuki member who killed Gaara. But again, he is Naruto... _"Yeahhh," Savanna hesitantly confirmed. "I think you might have met him once on one of your missions..."

After a few moments of pondering, Naruto thought that he had a pretty good idea of who Deidara was. His blue eyes widened as he spoke. "He has... really long hair, right?"

Savanna once again confirmed his answer by nodding, her smile becoming a little forced._ I really hope he's okay, _she thought. _But I had known that this was going to happen, anyway. _

Naruto stared intensely at Savanna. "And... He looks like a girl, right?"

As soon as Savanna registered Naruto's question, no part of her smile was real; she almost had to struggle to make it stay on her face. It really irked her when people told her that Deidara, the character she was in love with, looked like a girl. "No," Savanna replied. "He looks like a guy."

As Naruto thought about Deidara's appearance some more, the tension in his demeanor seemed to loosen, even if it was only slightly. "I don't know," he argued. "When I first saw him, I thought he looked pretty feminine to me..."

Luckily, Savanna was used to this sort of comment, and Naruto almost never ceased to surprise her in an amusing way, so she laughed and relaxed into the plush cushions of her sofa. "If that's how you see him, then that's fine with me."

Naruto winked. "Hey... I said that's how he looked when I first saw him!" As the joking atmosphere dissipated, anxiety started to take over him once more. _I can't believe Deidara's coming here!_ he thought to himself. _He... He killed Gaara! He's an S-Rank criminal! He wants the Nine Tails inside of me!_

Sasuke, feeling very exhausted from running away from Ino, decided to plop himself down on one of the armchairs in the living room. It wasn't like him to just give up, but he had resolved to become unresponsive to Ino's bubbly nature. Of course, the fact that the armchair was only meant for one person didn't prevent Ino from nearly splaying herself over Sasuke's lap, chatting about random subjects related to their so-called "love".

After making small-talk for a while, Tenten and Neji made their way over to where most of the people congregated in Savanna's living room. As Neji lowered himself on the couch next to Naruto, he noticed Sammy standing nearby with a contraption that looked vaguely like Savanna's cellphone. He couldn't help but recall the sound of her voice when she sang on the karaoke machine, and the way her light blonde hair framed her face. As Neji marveled at these details, they stirred feelings within him that he couldn't quite fully comprehend.

Sammy continued to scroll through all of her feed on different social apps, completely aware of Neji's thoughts. To be honest, she wasn't even paying attention to what sat on her screen. Instead, she continued to listen to the thoughts he had been having. _This doesn't feel right, _she thought, but continued, nonetheless.

_I can't believe he's not pushing me off,_ Ino thought as she continued to blabber on and on about different topics Sasuke couldn't care any less about. _Then again, I am flawless! Maybe Sasuke has finally came to his senses and realized that, even though, deep inside, he knew it all along! _

Ino wrapped her arms around Sasuke's neck, pulling him closer. Grunting, Sasuke wanted to pummel her to oblivion, but held in his annoyance and let her do as she wished. "Sasukeeee, we are so perfect together! We should do what I suggested before," she gushed. "Go upstairs so we can have some alone time! Doesn't that sound nice?"

Kiba managed to keep up with all of the arrows just as well as Lee did, and as he continued to notice that, the smirk that was already stuck onto his face only grew larger. Lee noticed this, as well, and grunted, not believing what he was seeing. But as the song got faster and faster, both of them began to struggle.

"This is getting... kind of hard!" Lee panted.

"Are you... are you kidding...?! This is easy!" Kiba breathed after him, even though he knew that it was, in fact, getting much more difficult than it had when the song started. The song was difficult on its own at the beginning, as well.

"It is not that hard, actually!" Lee changed his mind after hearing Kiba. "Piece of cake!"

"Easy peasy, lemon squeezy," Kiba laughed, watching Lee's movements urgently as well as he could while still paying attention to the screen. Lee nodded, not wanting to say any more as it might distract him from his dancing. After only a couple of seconds, the two were moving so fast that you could barely see their feet.

As the thoughts continued to consume Naruto even more, he began to rock back and forth, slowly turning his body into a ball. "H-he's gonna kill me," he whispered to himself, rolling off of the couch and onto the floor. "He's going to kill me. I have to hide before he gets here..."

Naruto began rolling until he reached the door of a closet. "This should do..." he whispered, sounding paranoid. He managed to reach up, grab onto the knob and open the door. After this procedure, he rolled into the closet (which seemed to be a coat closet, as coats were hanging from a pole above him), sat up and shut the door, shaking the whole time.

Savanna let out an exasperated sigh, a ghost of a smile appearing on her lips. _Naruto's overreacting, as usual,_ she thought. _If I go and try to comfort him, I have a strong feeling that whatever I say will just go in one ear and out the other..._

Meanwhile, Kiba and Lee's feet were moving at such a high frequency that heat was starting to emanate from them. Soon, smoke started rising from Kiba's legs, and it didn't take much longer for them to catch on fire.

Kiba reacted by screaming "AHHHH!" Immediately, he jumped off of the board and frantically took off his pants as quickly as he could, throwing them on the ground and stamping them with his foot. "Why does this stuff have to happen to me, huh?!" he vented. Sitting on the couch nearby, Neji shook his head in irritation.

Totally oblivious to the danger ensuing, Lee continued to dance as if nothing had happened. "This is great exercise!" he declared. "If I do this more often, it will help me stay youthful for my training!"

_I guess Lee's stretchy spandex prevented his legs from catching on fire, _Savanna thought amusedly. When she averted her eyes to Kiba's underwear, she could barely contain herself from rolling around on the floor just like how Naruto had done a few seconds ago. Well, except for the fact that she would be rolling from laughter. Covering her mouth with one hand, Savanna tried to contain her laughter as she gripped the couch's arm with her other hand.

Ignoring Ino's bombard of questions, Sasuke cynically remarked, "Nice underwear, Kiba."

Kiba quickly jerked his head down as if he had just realized he was in his underwear (which had a very nice print of doggie bones). Since his now-charred pants were no longer caught on fire, he swiped them up from the floor and tried to cover his lower body, his cheeks turning a vibrant shade of red. "I had to take them off!" he hastily explained. "I would have burned to death if I didn't!"

Sasuke still exhibited no reaction as Ino prodded his cheek with her pointer finger. "Sure," he sarcastically replied with a wry smirk.

The color in Kiba's cheeks only deepened as he thought, _Sometimes, I really hate Sasuke... But where am I going to get some new pants? I can't just wear anything..._

"I have a pair identical to your burned ones in my closet," Savanna declared with a wink.

Kiba's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. _How is that even possible?_ "Um, 'Kay... Thanks..."

Suddenly, the ring of a doorbell mixed in with the music of the Dance Dance Revolution machine. Even though Savanna hadn't opened the door yet, she was already certain of who stood behind it. Anxiety and excitement jolting through her, she shot up from the couch and started pacing around in circles in front of the door, barely aware of her movements. _This is it, _she thought. _This is really it. Once I open that door, my dream will finally come true. But can I handle it? Ahhh! _Feeling completely overwhelmed by the situation, she broke into a nervous run around the foyer. Almost immediately, she smacked into Shino. _When did he appear there?_

Shino grunted at the impact, but he made no comment.

Savanna quickly stepped away from him. "Gah... Sorry!" Knowing that she couldn't keep her guests waiting outside any longer, she built up her resolve, dashed over to the door, and wretched it open without allowing herself to think about her actions.

Just like she had envisioned, the Akatsuki member Deidara stood merely a few feet away from her, a light breeze picking up strands of his long blonde hair. His blue eyes gazed at her with a sense of familiarity, and his lips slightly curled up at one end in a smirk. Deidara looked just like himself; nothing about him changed, but there was one very important aspect of his person that made Savanna grow weak in the knees.

_He was real._

Savanna was in no way prepared for the flips and turns her stomach was doing, but she managed to keep herself upright. She stared at Deidara with wide eyes, not even noticing Tobi beside him. However, when she opened her mouth, she could form no words. _My favorite character is standing before me, _she thought.

"Hey, un," greeted Deidara. He didn't seem to take notice of Savanna's temporary inability to speak.

"Hi!" Tobi nearly shouted.

Tobi's sharp voice helped Savanna to somewhat function properly. Still staring and marveling at Deidara with her wide eyes, Savanna murmured, "Hey..."

"Can we come in?!" Tobi gasped, but barged past Savanna into the house before she could answer. He gasped continuously as he watched all of the commotion that seemed to perform for him.

Sammy, who was holding her stomach with laughter as a result of watching Kiba's pants burst into flames, spotted Deidara and Tobi making their way into the party a little ways across the room. "Hey, Tobi!" she waved after recovering.

Tobi turned his head to fix his gaze on the waving blonde. He responded by waving back. "Hello, girl I don't know!" he shouted back cheerfully, whilst bouncing up and down unintentionally.

"This is quite the party you have here, Savanna," Deidara stated, his signature smirk plastered on his face.

Still curled up into a ball in the closet, Naruto froze as he heard Deidara and Tobi's voice... but was more scared at the sound of Deidara's. "Oh... oh, no," he whispered to himself, trembling. "I'm going to die here."

As he continued to shake in the fetal position, a sleeve from a coat hanging harmlessly on a hanger above him fell and hit Naruto in the face, resulting in a scream erupting from his mouth. He continued to scream and scream; he wasn't able to realize that it was just a sleeve because it was almost pitch black in the closet. The only light that showed itself was a small, thin, useless strip of light coming from under the door.

Deidara shifted his gaze slightly to look at the closet door. His eyebrow arched only slightly as he listened to the familiar cry. "Ah... so the Jinchuriki is here, hmm."

Kiba trudged up the stairs, his blush almost blending in with the two tribal-looking marks on his cheeks. _Why does Savanna have a pair of pants identical to mine in her closet?_ he wondered. But he walked into her room and into her closet to look, nonetheless. After a few seconds of glancing around, he spotted the pants hanging in plain sight to the left. With a shrug he grabbed them off of the hanger and slipped them on.

Clutching her iTouch on one hand, Sammy used her other to run it through her long strands, as they were a bit tangled from being in the pool. She continued to watch as Tobi greeted everyone with his giddy personality, when suddenly a mischievous idea popped into her head... but it was also an excuse to sit by Neji on the couch.

"Hi! My name is Tobi! What's yours?!" Tobi announced to Neji while standing in front of him, right as Sammy began walking towards said person.

"Madarraaa..." she whispered once their heads were aligned, rolling the r. At almost the same time as she said his name, she plopped down onto the couch next to Neji. 'Tobi' froze mid-sentence after hearing her word.

Neji barely took notice of his sudden, stiff composure, instead paying attention to the pretty blonde now sitting next to him on the couch, whom he was admiring not long ago. For some reason, her nearby presence made his insides feel a little fluttery. It wasn't bad... It was just different.

"Neji Hyuga," he coolly replied. "And you?"

Although Neji's lavender eyes should have given away the fact that he was a Hyuga, Tobi gasped. "I'm Tobi! You're from the Hyuga clan?! So cool! That means you have the Byakugan!"

Neji was more than a little weirded out even though he hadn't said five words to the hyper Akatsuki member. "Yes," he confirmed.

"Woww! So can you do it?"

"...What?"

"The Byakugan! Can you do it right now?"

After a long pause, Neji finally complied. "Byakugan!" As he activated his visual prowess, he found it odd that he was unable to see behind Tobi's swirly mask. However, deeming it arbitrary, he quickly dismissed the thought.

Tobi clapped his hands. "Woww, that's so cool!" he gushed. "I bet you can see things really far away, huh?"

Neji certainly wasn't expecting a member of the Akatsuki to be this childish and inquisitive. Trying to keep on a blank expression, he nodded.

In the closet, Naruto noticed how Deidara took notice of him and referred to him as "the Jinchuriki", causing his screams to grow in intensity and volume. "HE'S GOING TO RIP OUT MY SOOOUUULLLL!" he wailed.

After Deidara said Savanna's name in person, Savanna had a very difficult time registering anything else going on around her. _Deidara looked at me and talked to me... I could die a happy death right now, _she thought._ ...But I don't want to die. I want to be with him! _Gathering up her courage once more, she snapped herself out of her stupor, closing the front door and forcing herself to walk over to where Deidara stood, a few feet away from the closet.

Naruto's cries seemed to amuse Deidara even more. "Relax, un. Leader Pain didn't assign me a mission besides babysitting that idiot over there, so I'm here by my own free will. Hmm."

Naruto continued to scream and rock in a fetal position in the closet. "Your will... IS TO KILL ME!"

Deidara chuckled a little and sighed. "No, un. That's not why I'm here."

When Kiba returned downstairs from Savanna's bedroom, Lee finally stopped dancing and hunched over slightly, breathing heavily. He seemed to suddenly notice Kiba's presence on the other side of the room. "When did you leave, Kiba?" he questioned.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "A little while ago..." He didn't mention the part where his pants caught on fire.

Glancing back over to the TV, Lee examined his and Kiba's grades. According to Dance Dance Revolution, Lee somehow got an A+... while Kiba got a F. "I win!" Lee cried victoriously, managing to throw his hands in the air.

"I can't control how hard that song was!" Kiba objected, a scowl stuck onto his face. "How the freaking heck did you get an A?!"

"I actually got an A plus," Lee grinned, resulting in Kiba's scowl only deepening. "So I win! And you lose! HA!"

Kiba's eyes turned into white circles, his jaw dropping. "HEY! Stop! You're such a jerk!"

This insult didn't even phase Lee as he continued to bounce around, pointing and laughing at Kiba.

"YESSSSSS! YES IT IS! SAVANNA, SAVE MEEEEEE!" Naruto bawled, getting up only to sit down again, but on his knees this time. At that, he proceeded to pound his fists on the floor. The lush carpet underneath him was now soaked with his tears.

Deidara shook his head, his smirk not fading one bit. "It really isn't, un. I have no reason to kill you."

"YES, YOU DO!" Naruto wailed.

"And what's that, hmm?" Deidara asked.

"IT'S BECAUSE...! BECAUSE... because..." Naruto paused. "BECAUSE YOU WANT MY SOUUUULLL!"

Sammy smiled as she watched and listened to Tobi and Neji have their conversation. On the inside, she was fangirling like crazy because Neji used his Byakugan. "I wish I could use the Byakugan..." Sammy murmured to herself, not even realizing that she was saying it aloud.

"Meeeeeee toooooo!" Tobi cried, bouncing up and down while clapping his hands.

"What?" Sammy asked, but quickly realized she said it out loud. A light blush crept onto her cheeks, knowing that it must've sounded creepy and weird towards Neji. "Oh. Uh, yeah."

_She admires my Byakugan? _Neji pondered. Without realizing it, his lips curved up in a smile at the thought. His Byakugan was still activated when he turned his head to rest his light eyes on Sammy. "The Byakugan isn't flawless," he stated. "It does have a blind spot, which nearly caused the death of me one time."

Tobi quickly waved him off. "Who cares?! It's awesome because it looks cool!"

Neji officially decided that Akatsuki member or not, Tobi was the strangest person he had ever met.

After a while of Lee's incessant bounces, points, and laughs, Kiba finally snapped. "I got an F because I freaking left in the middle of the song!" he shouted.

"Oh, really?" Lee asked. "Why did you leave in the middle of the song?"

Kiba directed a malicious glare towards the green ninja. "That's none of your business," he muttered.

"I have to say that I disagree!" Lee argued. "We were competing against each other!"

"So? It's my score, not yours."

"But we were playing the same game! Why did you leave?"

_Jeez... Lee sure is persistent,_ Kiba thought. But he is always like that... I should just tell him. He won't let it go, anyway. "My pants caught on fire," he admitted in a rush.

For a moment, Lee fell silent as his round eyes bore into Kiba's. Feeling uneasy from Lee's stare, Kiba shifted his weight a little and waited for him to reply.

Finally, Lee's face broke into a grin, showing off his pearly whites. "I did not catch on fire because Guy Sensei gave me the perfect outfit!" He gestured to the green spandex hugging his body. "There could be no better thing to wear!"

Kiba sighed. "Everything is better than that... Hey, what's that pounding noise?"

The noise Kiba heard was none other than Naruto, who continued to pound his fists against the closet door. "I WILL HAVE NO SOUULLL!" he screamed.

Apparently giving up on trying to convince Naruto of his good intentions, Deidara merely regarded the closet with his usual smirk.

Giggling, Savanna thought, _It's kind of funny that Naruto wants ME to save him... Normally, it would be the other way around._ Glancing over at her (other) blonde crush, she failed to read his expression as he listened to Naruto's rampage, so she attempted to read his mind. However, she received no input from his mind, which filled her with a feeling of dread. _Oh, noooo, _she thought. _I can't read Deidara's mind! Oh my gosh! What is this? His mind is... Unreadable!_

"I know," Sammy replied to Neji, but her eyes widened in realization at what she had just said. _He can't know that I knew that he... he almost died!_ "I know that the Byakugan has a blind spot," she quickly covered up, smiling awkwardly. "Yeah... I did research on the Hyuga clan a while ago..."

_That didn't sound believable,_ she thought, mentally banging her head against the wall. She hated how nervous she was around Neji...

"I knew that, too!" Tobi exclaimed with joy. "But I don't care! The Byakugan is totally amazing! If I had it, I think I could just—just EXPLODE with happiness! Little bits of me would be sprayed everywhere, and you would all have to clean me up!"

Kiba, who overheard Tobi (he _was_ shouting), slowly craned his neck to look over. _What the heck...? _he thought, narrowing his eyes as he studied the back of Tobi. _Who would say something like that? Well, that guy, obviously... but still!_

"I WILL DIE HEEEERREEEE!" Naruto moaned. "DEIDARA, JUST COME IN HERE AND KILL MEEE!"

Deidara's expression molded into one that looked more smug, and he sauntered over to the closet door, opening it slowly with a light creak. Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs and jumped in fright. His head bonked into the pole that allowed the hangers to hang inside in the process, which then caused all of the coats to avalanche on top of him.

And he continued to scream. But Deidara only stood there, watching the pile of coats on top of him shake in terror, an amused expression sitting on his face. He, indeed, had no intention to even lay a finger on him.

Naruto's screams eventually died down, and his head poked out of the mess. "Why aren't you killing me?" he asked, completely calmed down.

"I'm not here to assassinate you, un."

Naruto looked bewildered. "Oh."

"That's what I told you, but you didn't believe me. Hm."

"Well... what... what if you are plotting to kill me, but you're just trying to get me out of the closet so it will be easier?! HUH?! Explain that!"

"That wouldn't make it any easier, un. If I were trying to kill you, you would be dead by now... hm."

Naruto nodded slowly, and Kiba shook his head from outside of the closet, not believing how ridiculous the guy had been only a few seconds ago.

"Oh. Yeah," Naruto replied.

"What a loser..." Sasuke muttered, still ignoring Ino as she played with his hair and babbled on and on about 'their future'.

Suddenly, an excited gleam appeared in Ino's eyes, and she leaned even closer to Sasuke, making him shrug away a little. "What's that, honey buns? Did you say something?"

Sasuke immediately regretted forming any words. Becoming mute once more, he closed his mouth and pretended not to hear Ino's question. Of course, something like that wasn't going to stop Ino from pursuing her dream of becoming Sasuke's lover, so she dismissed his lack of response and started to prattle about his "godly" good looks.

Deidara winked. "Well, are you going to stay in there all day, un? If you ask me, being in a closet isn't too fun."

His blue eyes slowly drifting up to meet Deidara's, Naruto's tone of voice was slightly off from his usual tone as he answered. "Yeaaaaahhhh. I should probably stand up..."

Deidara continued to look at him with the same expression, and Savanna figured that he was probably wondering why Naruto still remained hidden underneath the now-wrinkled coats. _It's so frustrating that I can't read Deidara's mind, _she thought. _And out of everyone, it has to be him... My favorite character! Gah!_

After a minute or so, Naruto took his time standing up and walking in Savanna's direction. Just when he passed Deidara, however, his left arm flashed out like lightning towards Deidara in an attempt to sock him in the stomach. "YAA!" he yelled.

Savanna gasped, but Deidara blocked the attack just in time by catching Naruto's fist with the palm of his hand. Deidara released Naruto's fist after holding it for no more than five seconds, much to the latter's surprise.

"It seems like you have a rather thick skull," Deidara remarked. "Nobody else, after my many explanations, would still suspect that I would kill them, hmm."

Naruto regarded the hand that Deidara let go of with wide eyes, almost as if he had suspected it to be ripped off. "No, I'm just being careful!" he retorted. Deidara chuckled at his response, but he made no move to reply.

"Deidara's my friend," Savanna softly said. "He wouldn't harm you. And if he tried, I would try and protect you." _Wow... That was a really cheesy speech..._

Neji tried to ignore the strange image of Tobi exploding in his mind, instead paying attention to what Sammy told him. "You did research on the Hyuga clan?" he inquired, inactivating his Byakugan. Every minute he got to know her better, the more she left a good impression on him... Her interest in his clan filled him with pride.

Tobi, who apparently wasn't looking at Neji, thought the question was directed towards him. "Yes, I did!" he bragged. "I know everything!"

Because it would create an awkward moment, Neji didn't tell Tobi that his inquiry was for Sammy. "The Byakugan's secret, as well as the information associated with it, is located deep within the Hyuga compound," he explained. "For you to know about it..." Neji thought about the possible members of the Hyuga clan Sammy could know. "...You must be good friends with my cousin, Hinata."

Sammy almost objected to Neji's statement, but quickly stopped herself. "Oh, yeah," she nodded. "We're tight, Hinata and I!"

Tobi nodded furiously, desperately trying to be apart of the conversation. "Yes! Hinata and I are tight, too, Feji!"

"Neji," Neji corrected.

"Neji!" Tobi corrected himself. "Hinata and I are tight! We're best friends! Who's Hinata, again?"

"She's Neji's cousin..." Sammy explained with a laugh. "He already said that. But if you're so tight with her, shouldn't you know? Madaaarrrraaa...?" The Madara part, was of course, whispered.

Tobi froze again, but got back into character almost immediately. "I did know that! I was just testing to see if you knew! And you did, so good job! Yay!"

Kiba suddenly ran over to the three. "I would try to protect Savanna at all costs if Deidara tried to kill her!" he announced with a smirk.

"Well, DUH, you would! But I would get there first so I could protect her first! HA!" Naruto bragged, folding his arms. Kiba's eyes turned into white circles, and sooner or later, Naruto's did, as well.

"No you wouldn't! I am SO much faster than you are, and I have someone else to help me! Akamaru!" Kiba argued.

"I have the Rasengan to help me! I bet you don't have a freaking awesome Jutsu like that, Kiba!"

"Akamaru and I have plenty of our own Jutsu that would work just as well—they would actually work better than that stupid Rasengan of yours!"

"MY RASENGAN IS NOT STUPID!"

"OH, YES, IT IS! AND YOU ARE, TOO!"

"YOU'RE STUPIDER!"

"YOU'RE STUPIDEST!"

Deidara shook his head, somehow not annoyed by the two's fight. "You uns wouldn't have to, because I wouldn't attack Savanna, hm," he explained, but he knew that the two were screaming too loudly to hear him.

In response to Deidara's statement, Savanna started to feel light and fluttery. _Wow, this is so sad, _she thought. _I shouldn't get this excited when Deidara says he won't attack me... So, what?_

"You're stupid, and I'm awesome!" Naruto repeated for the gazillionth time. "Who had their pants catch on fire, huh?!"

Kiba flushed red from head to toe. "That's not my fault!" he argued, jabbing his pointer finger at Naruto. "It was only because of the type of fabric! And besides, they only caught on fire because I was working so hard! And what were you doing? You were hiding in a closet because you were a SCAREDY CAT!"

Naruto stomped closer to Kiba. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

"NO!"

By this point, Savanna was blushing madly; who would want two guys to fight for her in front of a guy she liked? However, although Deidara was her favorite, she did have a crush on Naruto and Kiba, as well. Not to mention, Naruto had been really growing on her lately...

"I'm so sorry," she quickly apologized to Deidara. Of course, Deidara seemed unfazed by the situation, but Savanna still felt embarrassed, nonetheless. Sighing, she wedged herself between Naruto and Kiba. "Guys, we're at a party," she pointed out. "Now's not the time to fight... It's the time to have fun!" Suddenly, it occurred to Savanna that Kiba and Naruto were analogous to cats and dogs; Kiba was the dog, and Naruto was the cat. _Hehe... Naruto even has whiskers to enforce that image, _she thought.

"Of course," Neji replied to Tobi, obviously not believing a word out of the Akatsuki member's mouth. "I'm merely wondering... How do you know the secret of the Byakugan, Tobi?"

Tobi giggled nervously before answering Neji's question. "I already told you... Pinata and I are tight! We're best friends!"

Neji sighed exasperatedly. "Hinata," he corrected.

"Hinata," Tobi quickly repeated. "I meant that!"

Tenten, who was standing nearby and couldn't help but listen in on the conversation, felt a smile break across her face when she heard her close friend being referred to as "Pinata". _Who is this guy, anyway? _she wondered.

"Anyway," Neji continued, "Hinata isn't friends with any Akatsuki members... The rules strictly prohibit her from forming friendly relations with you guys. Additionally, even if she was friends with you, she wouldn't let you in on the secret of the Byakugan... I know her like the back of my hand."

Tobi giggled nervously once more. "Ohhhh... Then I must be thinking of the wrong person! But how do you know that YOU didn't show me... Weji?"

A small thump could be heard as Tenten collapsed to the floor in laughter as a result of hearing Tobi's slip-up. Neji, as much as he could, continued to exhibit a polite visage as he repeated his name for the second time. "Neji," he corrected.

Sammy buried her face into her hands, laughing a lot harder than she had been laughing during the last few minutes. Weji? How could he make a mistake like that?

"Neji! Neji, Neji," Tobi repeated, in an attempt to engrave his name into his mind. "Neji, your name rhymes with just so many things!"

"...I know," Neji replied. "It does..."

Sammy continued to laugh, and once she lifted her head from hands after recovering for the most part, she only began to laugh again after seeing Tobi and Neji both. "I'm sorry," Sammy apologized with a smile, after taking a deep breath. "That was just... too good."

After hearing Savanna's statement, Naruto's eyes returned back to normal, and he straightened his back. "Of course, Savanna! Anything for you!"

Kiba then did the same. "Yeah! It's a party... we should be having fun, right, Naruto?" Kiba said through gritted teeth, still not wanting to be particularly kind to the boy.

"Yeah! What should we do next, Savanna?" Naruto asked, throwing his hands on his hips.

"It's your party, after all," Kiba pointed out. "So you should decide. What should we do next?"

"Your choice!"

"That's right! What I just said..."

"And I repeated it!"

"You should think of your own things to say!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

All of this was said with some sort of happy tone... even if it was completely fake. Deidara, apparently bored by their arguing (at least, that's what Savanna assumed) made his way over to a nearby armchair and lowered himself into it. Savanna couldn't help but wonder if she was being a bad host for him... She would have given anything to read his mind at that moment. However, she could barely focus on his actions because of the ample amount of attention given to her by Naruto and Kiba. It was almost overwhelming, and it made the inner fangirl within her stir. _Anything... For me? _She repeated Naruto's words in her head.

Savanna resignedly shook her head. "Just because you two are speaking in a friendly tone doesn't necessarily mean that you're not fighting," she commented.

Naruto grinned at Kiba, but the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. "What are you talking about? We're just having a dandy time!"

Savanna covered her mouth as she tried to prevent a laugh from escaping her. _Dandy?_ she questioned. _Nobody uses that word anymore..._ Remembering about the mess on the floor of the closet caused by Naruto earlier, Savanna walked over to the heap of coats and began the process of hanging them up individually.

As soon as Naruto registered what she was doing, he sprinted over to her and immediately started hanging up coats, as well. "Sorry about that," he apologized. "I have to be careful, 'cause I'm a Jinchuriki! You never know what might happen."

Savanna responded with a vague "Mmmhhhhmmmm", still believing that Naruto _might_ have exaggerated just a _little_ when Deidara and Tobi arrived.

Narrowing his eyes when Naruto rushed to help Savanna, Kiba followed his suit, appearing on Savanna's other side. When he commenced hanging up the coats, he did so at a higher pace than Naruto.

Naruto let out a huff of air when he looked over at Kiba. "Humph... Kiba, cut it out!"

Kiba smirked. "What? I'm not doing anything."

"Yes, you are," Naruto retorted with a glare.

Their bickering caused Savanna to give up and stop hanging up the coats. _I guess I should have expected this, _she thought. _Whenever they're put on the same team for a mission, they can never get along. _Slowly, she inched away from the closet and sat on the edge of the couch next to Sammy.

Sammy's smile was contagious, so Neji continued to smile softly. "I admit it... Weji is pretty ridiculous," he joked.

Sai had been upstairs for a quite a while (for reasons unbeknownst to Savanna), and when he made his entrance into the living room, he stopped in his tracks as he observed the Akatsuki members. However, his onyx eyes showed no signs of surprise.

Tobi bounced over to Sai and threw his arm around his shoulders. "Hiiiiii, I haven't met you before! I'm Tobi! What's your name?"

"Sai," he flatly replied, putting on his fake smile. "May I ask why Akatsuki members like you are at this party?"

"That's because we're Savanna's best friends!" Tobi exclaimed, now throwing his arms into the air.

Sai didn't reply, but he continued to wear his fake smile for Tobi. _How strange,_ he thought. _Why would Savanna be friends with Akatsuki members? _

After even more fighting, Kiba and Naruto began hanging up coats at top speed... several a second (Savanna had _a lot_ of coats). One couldn't even see their hands.

"I'M WINNING!" Naruto squawked, cackling. Kiba furrowed his eyebrows together, beginning to hang them at an even faster rate.

"Now I'M WINNING! HAHAHA!" Kiba retorted, not even realizing the smoke beginning to rise from his hands.

Naruto, who glanced over to see how quickly Kiba was hanging each coat, noticed the smoke immediately. But being in the anti-Kiba mood he was in, he didn't say a word and continued to hang, a smirk forming on his lips.

"YEAAAAHHH! WINNING FEELS—AHHH, OH, NO, NOT AGAIN!" Kiba screamed, his victorious cry being interrupted by flames erupting onto his sleeves.. After flailing around, the fire only travelled farther up his arms. He literally ripped his shirt off and threw it to the ground, repeating the earlier process—jumping on it to stop the flames.

"WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN TO ME?!" he mourned, running both of his hands through his hair.

"You smile a lot, don't you, Pai?!" Tobi rejoiced, clasping his hands together. "I smile a lot, too. I just love smiling! Don't you, Pai?!"

Sai didn't take notice of Tobi's name error and only continued to smile. "Um... yes. I suppose so."

Sammy nodded. "Weji..." she repeated, a giggle following. She then turned to face her cousin after feeling her sit down. "Hey, cuz!" she greeted, giving Savanna a fist-bump.

After she turned, she noticed how Kiba's shirt was torn, charred and on the floor... and began laughing hysterically again. What was it with Kiba and fire?

After following Sammy's gaze, Savanna couldn't help herself from cracking up, as well. However, she also had a little trouble tearing her eyes away from Kiba's chest...

Naruto, now finished with hanging up all of the coats, closed the closet door and erupted into laughter. "HA! You really got it that time, Kiba! Sucks for you! Hahaha!"

Kiba sent Naruto a glare that could have put out the flames of Amaterasu. "Shut up!" he growled. "It's not my fault I was beating you by a lot!"

His arguments didn't even faze Naruto, who was close to crying once more, but this time with laughter. "Nahhh," Naruto drawled, waving him off. "It's just because you buy clothes with crappy fabric! Ha!"

"I DO NOT!" Kiba yelled. "My clothes were made of material from the Inuzuka clan! They're a one-of-a-kind, and now they're ruined!" Apparently, he seemed to forget about the spare pair of his pants Savanna had in her closet.

By this point, Naruto already had the upper hand in the argument, so he really didn't have to continue talking back to Kiba... But Naruto did _just_ to provoke him.

"Oh, yeah?" Naruto taunted. "Pshh, who cares about that? Besides... I bet your clothes were made by your MOM!"

Surprisingly, Kiba didn't immediately bark out a comeback. Instead, his cheeks faded into a vibrant crimson. "...So? She's good at making clothes!"

Kiba and Naruto's bickering made Savanna want to bang her head repeatedly against something and roll around laughing at the same time. Deciding that she had enough, she smiled at Sammy when said person greeted her and stood up from the couch even though she hadn't been sitting there for two minutes. To ensure that Kiba wouldn't ignore her, she grabbed a hold of his wrist and started pulling him upstairs. Naruto barely noticed, for his laughter was starting to take over his whole body. Rolling her eyes, she said, "I have a new jacket identical to your old one in my closet, just like I had a pair of your pants. Don't let Naruto provoke you, Kiba... Everything will be fine. Your reaction is all he wants."

Looking (only _he_ could tell what he was feeling) relieved because he was somewhat relieved of Tobi for the time being, Deidara took out a small amount of detonating clay and proceeded to mold it with the mouth in the palm of one of his hands. Merely a few seconds later, a very detailed, miniature clay bird sat in his hand when he opened it up. "This is true art," he murmured as he gazed at the bird.

Tobi lightly bonked his head with his fist. "Well, duhhhh! Everyone likes smiling! You can only smile when you're happy!"

"I beg to differ," Sai said pleasantly.

"Huh? How is it possible to smile when you're NOT happy?"

"You force yourself to smile," Sai bluntly replied.

Tobi blinked (as far as Sai was concerned) for a moment. "What would be the point of THAT?" Tobi asked curiously. "You can't just force a smile without being happy, too!"

"I beg to differ," Sai repeated, the fake smile somehow staying on his face. "I actually smile plenty without having any emotions."

"Well..." Tobi tapped his chin in thought. "Well, I can tell you have a lot of happiness and sunshine right now!"

Shaking his head, Sai corrected, "Actually, I don't."

Tobi sighed impatiently and hesitated, waiting a few seconds. "How about... now?! Are you happy and sunshine... sunshiney now?!"

The shake of a head was the answer Tobi got.

"Umm... hmm... now?!"

Another shake.

"Let's see... um... one... two... three," Tobi counted. "How about now?! You have to have sunshine now! You just have to! It's the law, Pai!"

But Tobi received yet another head shake.

Deidara, who continued to sit and admire his work, found a fault. "What am I going to do with this masterpiece, hmm...?" he murmured, glancing around the room until his eyes landed on Tobi.

Kiba grunted, just the thought of Naruto making him want to punch the guy across the face. Why was he so annoying? "It's kind of hard when he's so freaking annoying," Kiba pointed out, almost reciting his own thoughts, "But yeah. I'll definitely try to have more patience with him..."

As Savanna led him into the closet, he finally realized the grasp Savanna held on his wrist, and the slightest hint of a smirk revealed itself on his face. _Naruto's not up here with Savanna... alone,_ Kiba thought, his smirk growing more and more visible as each second ticked by. _That's what he gets for being a stupid, annoying little rotten bowl of ramen. _

Sammy's laugh died down to a giggle, which eventually died down all together. After a few more seconds, she leaned back against the couch and turned on her iPod, examining the apps she had on the home screen, figuring there was nothing better to do... especially since she didn't have an idea for a conversation with Neji.

As Savanna read Kiba's thoughts, she let go of his wrist and blushed ever so slightly. In an attempt for her blush to slip by unnoticed, she turned around and took Kiba's jacket off of a hangar. However, Kiba did, in fact, notice the faint shade of pink coloring her cheeks, so his smirk grew.

_This is slightly awkward,_ Savanna thought. She already knew that Kiba caught her blushing, so she figured that there was no use of hiding it any longer. Turning back around so she faced him, she smiled and held out his jacket for him, taking care not to let her eyes roam to his chest. "Well... Here you go."

_I'm actually glad Naruto's down there laughing his butt off,_ Kiba thought. _He's totally missing out. Heh, heh..._ "Thanks, Savanna," he replied, slipping the dark gray jacket over his shoulders. "I don't know what I would have done without you."

_Aww... His complements are too nice!_ Savanna thought. "No problem."

After a minute or so of observing Tobi harassing Sai, Deidara's facial expression increasingly changed into a frown. "What an idiot, un," he muttered to himself.

Still not believing a word Sai said, Tobi bounced up to him and grabbed a hold of the corners of Sai's mouth, forcing them upwards in what looked like a demented smile. "What about now? You're DEFINITELY, POSITIVELY happy now, right?"

Unlike any other person, Sai didn't push Tobi away; he didn't even make a move to brush Tobi's gloves away from his face. "Of course not," he responded. "Now, you're making the smile even more forced."

"GAH!" Tobi screamed in Sai's face, causing the latter to flinch the tiniest bit. "You're lying, Pai! Everyone is ALWAYS happy when they smile!"

Sai had already proven that statement invalid, but Deidara further supported Sai's side when his scowl morphed into a malicious smirk despite his very low mood. "Tobi needs to be silenced, un," he stated as he lowered his eyes to his clay bird. "And he needs to be silenced by none other than my work of art."

Totally oblivious to Deidara's evil plans, Tobi continued to pester Sai about the "correlation" between happiness and smiling. Somehow, Sai kept his trademark fake smile plastered on his face as he denied the Akatsuki member over and over without fail.

With a rapid flick of his wrist, Deidara introduced his creation into the air and created a hand sign with the other hand, guiding the bird towards Tobi's location across the living room. After several seconds of precise coordination and patience, he managed to lightly land his work of art on an ignorant Tobi's shoulder.

Sai's obsidian eyes drifted to the same white object. "Tobi, there's something on your shoulder."

Tobi jerked his head to the shoulder devoid of the clay bird. "Whaaa? There's nothing there! Can you see invisible things, Pai?!"

Sai shook his head slowly. "No, it's-"

Tobi didn't give him a chance to finish. "Pai, are you keeping a secret from me?!"

"No, it's on the-"

"I knew it... You are keeping a secret! That's it... We can't be friends anymore!-"

"No, look on the other-"

"KATSU!"

Deidara's deep voice ripped through the air like a blade; his one word signaled the clay bird to detonate. Since it was one of his smaller creations, the following explosion wasn't big in size. However, it's force was sufficient enough to send Tobi flying into the air... And falling onto Neji's lap.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: NEIN!**

**Banana: Reading minds is cool and all, but wouldn't it be even cooler if we could control them? :)**

**Sammay: Yeah... Heh... Heh... :)**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

Even more laughter erupted from Sammy's mouth. She just happened to be on the camera of her iPod, so she quickly jumped up and snapped a picture before either of them could move their positions. In the duration of the few seconds she had completed the process, her laugh never ceased... But that seemed to be the new routine in this world.

Tobi wasn't even phased by the sudden explosion. Instead, he gasped with surprise and jumped up from Neji's lap. "I told you guys that I would explode with happiness if I ever got the Byakugan!" he marveled, gasping again and throwing his hands to his... mask. "And I kind of just exploded! So-so does that mean I POSSESS THE BYAKUGAN, NOW?!"

Neji sat frozen on the couch, his extremely impatient expression priceless. _This is completely and utterly ridiculous,_ he thought, relaxing only slightly as he watched Tobi celebrate. _Why did he have to land on me?_

"Oh my golly gee, I have to try it out! Nejo, watch me as I do the Byakugan! I am so excited," Tobi exclaimed while clapping his hands. "Ready... and... BYAKUGAN!"

Sammy collapsed onto the coach with laughter, continuing to watch as Tobi glanced around the room furiously. "Is this... is this what the Byakugan feels like?" Tobi asked softly, looking back to Neji. "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life!"

Neji sighed, clearly annoyed. "Neji," he corrected through gritted teeth. "And you most definitely do not 'possess' the Byakugan."

"What are you talking about?!" Tobi giggled, twirling around. "Look at all of these colors! I can't believe it! The Byakugan is FLAWLESS!"

"Those are the party decorations, Tobi," Sammy pointed out, still laughing.

Deidara at first felt victorious (that's at least how he looked), but after only a few more seconds of watching Tobi, the smirk on his face faded, an irked expression replacing it. "Why does nothing work with this imbecile?! Hmm?!"

Naruto still didn't acknowledge the rest of the group and what was happening, but instead he continued to guffaw about the fact that Kiba caught on fire again. "KIBAAAA! You're such a loser, Kiba! LOSER! LOSAHH!" he belted out, holding his stomach, as it was beginning to ache from laughing so hard.

After Kiba got the zipper up, he listened closely to all of the commotion downstairs. "What's going on down there?" he asked, quickly walking out of the closet so he could poke his head out of Savanna's door in order to hear somewhat better.

"BYAKUGAAAANN! OH, BYAKUGAN, HOW LUCKY AM I TO FINALLY POSSESS YOU!"

"HAHAHAHAHA! KIBA, WHAT A LOSER! OH MY GOSH!"

"I told him he had something on his shoulder..."

"TOBIIIIII!"

Even though he heard so many laughs and voices, the only one he payed attention and listened to was the one that called him a loser.

Immediately, Kiba's eyes reverted into white circles, and his voice dropped until it was almost inaudible. Savanna barely caught what he was saying as he deliberately whispered, "What... did... he... just... say?"

Savanna tried to talk some sense into a Kiba once more. She spoke so quickly that her words seemed to tumble out of her mouth. "Don't listen to Naruto, Kiba! He can't think straight right now because he's laughing so hard and so much. He's, uh... irrational!"

Her attempts to calm him were to no avail, for Kiba still bristled with anger. "And do you know why he's laughing?" he spat.

Savanna knew fully well that his anger was in no way directed towards her, but she couldn't help but take a little offense at Kiba's tone of voice. And to top that off, she couldn't think of a good response as to why Naruto was bawling his eyes out downstairs. "Uhhh..." She trailed off.

Kiba seemed to become ever so slightly triumphant even though he was giving off vibes of fury. "See? He's laughing at me because my clothes lit on fire, and he thinks I'm stupid."

"I wouldn't go that far," Savanna disagreed. "I'm sure Naruto doesn't think you're stupid... I bet he just thinks that your clothes catching on fire is funny."

Suddenly, Naruto's voice could be heard clearly from downstairs. "HAHAHA! WOW, HE'S SO... SO STUPID! HAHAHA!"

Knowing that there was no turning back for Kiba, Savanna face-palmed as said person shot down the staircase and threw himself on Naruto. "YOU'D BETTER SHUT UP!" he yelled, tackling him on the floor.

Naruto finally stopped laughing, but he was now faced with the problem of having to deal with the angry Inuzuka. "Hey, Kiba!" He attempted to speak while he wrestled with him. "Cut it out! I was just kidding!"

Kiba's fury was so intense that he was almost incapable of thinking clearly. "No, you weren't! You were dead serious! DEAD SERIOUS!"

Even though she couldn't stop Kiba from advancing on Naruto, Savanna decided that she had to do something. _If I don't do anything, their fight will escalate, and they'll end up getting injured,_ she thought. Quickly bounding down the stairs, she tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach when she approached Deidara sitting in the armchair. Barely noticing his annoyed countenance, she spoke hurriedly. "Do you have any detonating clay? I really need to separate Naruto and Kiba from each other right now!"

Tearing his eyes away from Tobi, Deidara's facial expression relaxed. "Of course, un," he confirmed. Shifting his head to look at the two fighting ninja near the closet, he stuffed his hand into one of the gray pouches strapped to his waist. Only a few seconds later, he pulled out his hand and opened it, his palm faced skywards. When the mouth on his palm spit out yet another miniature clay bird, another flick of his wrist guided the bird to Naruto and Kiba.

Quickly, Deidara formed the same hand sign he had made a couple of minutes before. Preventing the shinobi from fighting any further, Deidara yelled, "KATSU!"

The ensuing explosion caused Naruto and Kiba to fly apart in opposite directions; Naruto flew backwards into the wall on one side of the living room, and Kiba flew backwards into the wall on the other side of the living room. Giving Deidara a warm thank-you, Savanna ran over to Naruto lying on the carpet. By reading his thoughts, she discovered that the fight with Kiba itself was more damaging to him than Deidara's explosion, although she couldn't see any signs of an injury. Holding a hand to her head in frustration, she sighed. "Naruto, you have to stop fighting with Kiba," she stressed. "Look what happened! At least promise me you won't fight with him for now."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah... I won't be laughing at him anytime soon if he attacks me like that every time..."

Sammy's jaw was dropped slightly after watching Deidara use his detonating clay in order to stop Naruto and Kiba from killing each other. After a few more seconds, she began to laugh softly, only because everything seemed hilarious in this world. If someone threw a bomb at two people fighting in the real world, things would be completely different.

"...Go, Deidara-Senpai! You did it, you did it, you did it, hooray!" Tobi cried, and Sammy took note of how similar the saying from Dora was to Tobi's cry of joy. "You got them to stop fighting! You're my hero!"

"Be quiet, un," Deidara acknowledged Tobi with only that statement, not even bothering to look at him while saying it.

"You're my hero!" Tobi rejoiced, clapping his hands while bouncing around. "You're my hero and I have the Byakugan! This is possibly the best day of my whole entire life, Deidara!"

Kiba grunted as he sat up. "What was that for?" he pointedly muttered in Deidara's direction, knowing that the Akatsuki member most likely wouldn't hear him. But he did.

"Savanna asked me to, un," Deidara explained. "So I did. You two were fighting too much."

"That doesn't mean you blow us up!" Kiba growled, but Deidara kept a calm composure.

"You're still in one piece, aren't you?"

Kiba hesitated. "Well, yeah! But... but that still scared me! And I wasn't done with Naruto, yet! He still has to learn his lesson!"

"All we're saying is give peace a chance, bro!" Sammy shouted over to Kiba, her hand forming into a peace sign. "Be like John Lennon!"

"Uh... what?" Kiba questioned, narrowing his eyes. What is she talking about? he thought.

"All we're saying is give peace a chance, bro!" she repeated, shoving her peace sign into the air. "Be like John Lennon and don't attack other people! Unless they're trying to kill you... then you should probably fight back. But that's not the point! Give peace a chance!"

"Yeah! Give peace a chance, bro!" Naruto followed Sammy's movements by holding two fingers up in a peace sign, as well. "Be like John... John Yennon?"

"John Lennon!" Sammy corrected. "Power to the people! We all shine on!"

"Yeahhhh," Naruto nodded. "What she said, Kiba! Yeah!"

Some of Kiba's earlier anger began to creep into him. "You shouldn't even be saying anything, Naruto," he snapped. "You don't even know who John Lennon is!"

At Kiba's comment, Naruto jutted out his lower lip the slightest bit. "Weeellll... You don't, either."

Because Kiba was now the one who started provoking Naruto, Savanna tried to muster as much warning into a glare directed towards Kiba as possible. When a look of surprise came over Kiba's visage at the glare, Savanna thought she had accomplished her goal. However, her hopes quickly plummeted when Kiba chuckled softly and stood up.

"I'm going to go get a drink," he mumbled. Leaving Savanna in a state of confusion, he left the living room and disappeared into the kitchen.

Savanna remained standing next to Naruto for a moment, just pondering over Kiba's actions. _Oh, crap... I was so taken off guard that I didn't think of reading his mind! Well, it's too late now... He's not thinking of my glare anymore. But why would he just laugh? Eh... I probably looked stupid._

Naruto sat up further and leaned back against the wall. Suddenly, he reached behind him and started rubbing his rear end, his expression contorting to that of pain. "Owwww... Now that I think about it, my butt hurts."

Savanna couldn't keep herself from smiling as she held out a hand to Naruto in an offer to help him up. "If your butt hurts, then you should be sitting in a sofa, not on the floor."

"Hehe, yeah. Thanks, Savanna!" Naruto reached out with his other arm and closed his fingers around Savanna's as she helped him stand up. _When will I stop feeling so happy whenever I touch him?_ Savanna questioned. _Hehe... Probably never..._

"Remember when you were shouting at me to protect you when you were in that closet?" Savanna asked. "It looks like I really did protect you. It was indirectly, but I was the one who told Deidara to separate you and Kiba."

Naruto laughed even though he didn't hear Deidara say the same thing. "Oh, I knew that!" _Phew... For a second, I thought Deidara was trying to kill me!_

_ John Lennon?_ Neji repeated the unfamiliar name in his head. _Sammy seems to know a lot of things I don't, and I've dedicated so much of my time to studying various subjects... She must be full of knowledge._

Deidara narrowed his eyes as he registered Tobi's remark. "Tobi, for the last time, you don't have the Byakugan," he said exasperatedly. "Hm!"

Tobi gasped. "But... But I'm seeing so many colors now!"

"You're either born with the Byakugan, or you're not, un," Deidara replied. "And you're not a part of the Hyuga clan, so you're not."

Suddenly, Tobi giggled creepily. "Hehe... How do you know if I'm part of the Hyuga clan or not, Deidara-senpai?"

"...I'm just assuming, but I'm positive I'm correct. No Hyuga would ever act like you, hm."

"You don't see colors when the Byakugan is activated," Neji cut into the conversation. "Except for chakra, which appears blue. Everything else is submerged in a negative light."

Savanna sighed as she heard Naruto's lie. "Anyway, we should turn on some music by John Lennon so everybody can hear how wonderful it is! Sammay, would you like to do the honors?" She winked.

Sammy's eyes lit up after hearing Savanna's suggestion. "Yes!" she flung up from her seat, saluted and then dove towards the iHome that sat near the TV. Plugging her iPod into the device, she began scrolling through all of her many songs before stopping and tapping the one she was looking for; Give Peace a Chance. She figured it would make sense to allow them to hear that one first. After all, she had been quoting that one.

A second or two later, the room was enveloped in the world of John Lennon. "Hehehehe." Sammy giggled after returning to her seat on the couch.

"Shagism? Madism? What? No one talks about that," Naruto narrowed his eyes into thin slits. "Why does this guy say everybody talks about that stuff? What the heck is half of that stuff?"

Sammy realized he was talking to her after a bit too long, but quickly shrugged once she figured it out. "I dunno. John Lennon felt the need to include random words in his song, I guess."

Tobi stood silently as he listened to the song. "I like this guy," he said finally after a minute or two. "He likes peace, just like me! Peace! Peace!"

"I wish you liked peace and quiet," Deidara muttered. "You like every kind of peace except for the one you need to like, un."

"I like every kind of peace, Deidara Senpai," Tobi disagreed. "I love peace and quiet! Love it! LOVE IT."

"All he's saying is give peace a chance," Sammy told Deidara. "Clearly, he's following John Lennon's footsteps. Clearly."

"What is he singing about, now? Imagining?" Kiba asked (he was now back in the living room), leaning his head onto his hand. The song had definitely changed from Give Peace a Chance to Imagine.

"...Duh..." Sammy couldn't help but say. "Every line is telling you to imagine..."

Kiba nodded. "Yeah... but... why haven't I heard about this guy before? You and Savanna know who he is..."

"Good question." Sammy smiled, but didn't bother giving him a clear answer.

"I LOVE PEACE!" Tobi cried again, beginning to dance around. "AND AND I LOVE IMAGINING THERE'S NO HEAVEN BECAUSE I TRIED AND IT WAS EASY. Like John promised!"

"If you're so obsessed with peace, then shut up. Hmm." Deidara spoke through gritted teeth as he eyed Tobi.

Tobi continued to dance as if he didn't hear a word Deidara said. "What if we really didn't have countries?" he asked no one in particular, basically quoting the song as it went. "That would be crazy! I mean, I couldn't live without Mexico! They make tacos!"

Sammy slowly lifted her gaze to look at Tobi. "What?" she asked. How did he know about that?

"Huh?" Tobi replied innocently, shrugging. Over and over again. "What? I don't know what you're talking about!"

At Tobi's comment about Mexico and tacos, Savanna turned her head and openly stared at him with wide eyes. _Yeah, how does he know about that stuff? I mean, I know that he's secretly a really powerful shinobi, but it's impossible for even the most powerful shinobi in this world to know about things from our world!_

"You're such a bad liar, Tobi," Deidara remarked. "You shouldn't even try to lie, because it's pretty obvious that you're not telling the truth, un."

Once again, Tobi completely ignored Deidara's statement as if it passed through one ear and out the other. "Wow, this song is so amazing! If I ever meet John Lennon, I'll give him a biiiiiiiig hug!" While he was dancing and flailing his arms every which way and that, Tobi accidentally slapped a nearby lamp with one of his limp arms and caused it to fall to the carpet. Luckily, the lamp didn't break, and Tobi immediately jumped and rushed over to the fallen lamp, hurriedly setting it in it's original position. "Oooops..." He giggled nervously with a hand on his mask.

Neji narrowed his eyes slightly as he regarded Tobi. _How can Akatsuki members act this stupid?_

After watching the act of clumsiness on Tobi's part, Savanna chuckled softly._ Tobi is so... predictable sometimes,_ she thought. _Today has just been so amazing... I couldn't ask for more!_ Her eyes shifting to Naruto, who was distracted by the music, she began to have second thoughts.

Followed by the creak of the back door, Shikamaru and Choji entered the kitchen from the backyard, miraculously still in their swimsuits. When they made their way over to Savanna and Naruto standing behind the couches, Naruto noticed them and did a double-take. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "You guys were out there for such a long time! Didn't you get cold?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Eh... When you have things to talk about, time can pass by quickly without you knowing it."

"Uh, okay. That's weird," Naruto bluntly replied. "I would have gotten bored after five minutes of sitting out there with nothing to do!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Of course, but that's just you, Naruto. And there was something to do... talk. Anyway, we also came inside because it's dark now."

Shikamaru's words were confirmed when Savanna leaned around Naruto and peered out the window. The surroundings were, in fact, bathed in nothing but the light of the moon. _Time did pass quickly without me knowing it,_ Savanna thought._ It's probably because I'm having so much fun..._ As she ran through the events that took place during her first day in the Hidden Leaf, she began to feel saddened by the inevitable fact that the party was eventually going to have to come to a close soon.

"Wow," Sammy sighed after looking outside as well. "Time goes by fast..."

"You can say that again..." Naruto agreed, barely believing the fact that it was actually nighttime. He felt as if the party had started only five minutes ago.

"Wow," Sammy repeated, taking Naruto's expression seriously. "Time goes by fast..."

"You can say that again," Naruto agreed... again.

"Wow," Sammy said once more. "Time goes—no."

"You can... oh. Never mind," Naruto laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "So... what should we do, now?"

Sammy figured John Lennon was done (done for everyone besides Tobi) and dove for the iHome again, landing in a face plant on the ground. She got up laughing, nonetheless, grabbed her iPod and sat back down next to Neji.

Tobi continued to dance after he carefully placed the lamp back onto the table, even though music wasn't playing anymore. "Wooowwwww, I love this song! John Lennon is a geniuuusssss! I can't believe someone was soooooo smart and actually wrote something as perfect an upbeat and amaaaaazing as this!"

"Nothing is playing, un," Deidara muttered. "So shut up."

"There is so much beauty coming out of the speakers!" Tobi rejoiced, completely ignoring Deidara's statement, yet again. "I could just... I-I could just... just... JUST CRY!"

At that, Tobi burst into tears and crumpled up into a ball on the floor. "WAAAAAAAHHHH!" he wailed, and Deidara's expression, if possible, continued to darken and darken with irritation.

After a while, Savanna noticed that Deidara was angrily gripping the arms of the chair he was sitting in because of Tobi's dramatic acting, so Savanna quickly made her way over to him once more. "Deidara, I can tell that you're not too fond of Tobi at the moment... I have an empty guest room upstairs. Why don't you let out your frustration there?" she suggested.

Much to her relief, Deidara seemed to relax a little as he tore his eyes from Tobi's tantrum on the floor. "That would be great... I'm very close to blowing that idiot up again. Hm!"

_ Tobi has no idea how lucky he is,_ Savanna thought. Beckoning Deidara to follow her as he rose out of the armchair, Savanna led him up the stairs, down two hallways, and to the guest room she mentioned earlier. _Heh, heh,_ she thought. _One nice thing about role playing is that I can come up with anything and it'll somehow show up in this world..._

When she opened the door to the guest bedroom, Deidara gladly entered. "Thanks, un. I think I'll perfect my art here."

"Alright," Savanna replied. "Just let me know if you need anything." When she closed the door behind her and returned downstairs, she began to feel proud of herself, for despite her calm appearance, she was really still mentally freaking out whenever she spoke to the blonde Akatsuki member.

Suddenly, Naruto's stomach growled, and he laid his hands across it in an attempt to disguise the sound. However, his stomach could still be heard above the soft background music, and Savanna, now standing next to him, laughed softly.

"There's so much food in the kitchen," she pointed out. "If you're hungry, Naruto, why don't you have some?"

Naruto scratched his cheek. "Welllll... I know that, but I'm not really in the mood for those things."

Even though Savanna was positive what Naruto was in the mood for, she nonetheless questioned, "What are you in the mood for?"

"Hmm... Hehe... I could probably eat ramen!"

_ Of course,_ Savanna thought jokingly. "Oh, why didn't you say so before? I have tons of ramen bowls in the cupboard! Do you want some?"

Naruto's facial expression immediately brightened. "Yes!" he enthusiastically agreed.

Unable to suppress the smile that escaped her, Savanna now led Naruto into the kitchen and opened the cupboard, revealing what looked like an unlimited supply of ramen bowls. "Help yourself," she said.

Naruto looked like he was about to drool just from the sight of all that ramen. "Oohhhhh..."

Although the music from John Lennon was longer projected from the speakers, Neji continued to compare said person's music with the music from their world._ His music is so different,_ he thought. _I'm not sure why, but this type of music reminds me of Sammy and Savanna..._

_Yeah, it should,_ Sammy thought back to Neji, laughing mentally. She understood that he couldn't reply through the process she participated in, of course, but acted as if he could, anyway. "So..." she said to him. "Did you like John Lennon?"

Deidara immediately stuck his hands into his clay pouches once Savanna closed the door. Only a few seconds later, he took them out to reveal a carefully constructed bird, and an explosion was shortly followed. He continued the same process for a couple more minutes before he decided to do something a bit more.. artistic.

Placing his hands into the pouches once more, he pulled them out, a small house in each hand; something he definitely didn't create as often as many of his other figures. He carefully set both of them down on the bed that sat in front of him and again put his hands into the pouches. After he pulled them out a second time, he revealed around five or six spiders, which he set inside of the houses. For a few more seconds, he admired his creation, but then couldn't wait any longer.

"Sorry, my children," he murmured, his hands easily forming into a familiar hand sign. "KATSU!"

Naruto drooled over the ramen for a second before he nearly attacked the cupboard, yanking out dozens of ramen bowls. Each time he took a couple out, the supply didn't seem to go down at all. He laughed with joy and opened one, scarfing it down as fast as he could as he walked towards the table, somehow carrying a ton of ramen bowls with him simultaneously.

Lee, after finishing one of his many Dance Dance Revolution games, managed to hear Naruto slurping and chewing away in the kitchen. His stomach grumbled, making him realize how hungry he really was. "Time for a dinner break!" he exclaimed, walking into the kitchen.

Naruto's head snapped up from it's position that was hunched over the bowl, noodles hanging out of his mouth. "Oh, hey, Lee," he greeted with a mouthful of ramen and then continued to eat.

"Wow..." Lee marveled as he watched the hungry boy eat. "You can eat very quickly... but I bet that I could eat even quicker than you!"

Naruto snorted despite the fact that ramen noodles were still hanging from his mouth. "You wish!" And with that, he resumed his original, hunched position over his ramen and proceeded to consume bowl after bowl with perplexing speed.

Although Naruto's response was fairly rash, Lee didn't seem to take any offense. "Anything can be achieved if you set your mind to it!" he proclaimed. "That is one of the many valuable lessons Guy Sensei has taught me."

Naruto took the time to actually chew his noodles for once before he swallowed, allowing Lee's words to sink into his head. Finally, he turned his head towards Lee once more and replied with, "Bushier Brow Sensei? Even he must know that no one can beat me when it comes to ramen!" Naruto's blue eyes widened a little, and he leaned forward ever so slightly. "NO ONE."

Lee's bright smile didn't lose any of it's cheerfulness. "If I put in enough effort into beating you, Naruto, then doing so will be a piece of cake!"

Every other person besides Lee would have immediately noticed that Naruto was getting extremely ticked off. Naruto made his claim on ramen a long time ago, and if anyone challenged that claim, then, well... It was almost as bad as Naruto in the Nine Tails Cloak.

A corner of Naruto's lips twitched. "Nobody can beat me when it comes to ramen," he repeated. "Your effort won't stand a chance against my stomach!"

"But if-"

"There's no chance!" Naruto nearly shouted, now standing only a few inches away from Lee's face. His cerulean eyes could have driven a hole into Lee's black ones because of the great intensity of Naruto's stare. "Hmph! If you REALLY want to lose so badly, then I challenge you to a ramen-eating contest!"

Watching the scenario unfold with her very eyes, Savanna laughed softly. _I swear,_ she thought, _Lee has a special filter on him that filters out insults... He seems to only register the things he wants to hear._

Lee brought his right hand to his forehead in a salute. "I gracefully accept your invitation!" he declared. He paused for a second. "Wait... Are you talking about right now, Naruto? You have already eaten so many bowls! I would have an unfair advantage."

Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance. "It doesn't matter, 'cause I would win anyway!" He grabbed a bowl of ramen from the huge stack in front of him and shoved it towards Lee. "Here, _HAVE SOME_."

Completely unaware of Naruto's anger, Lee excitedly dug into his ramen bowl, obviously treating it as a friendly contest. A few seconds later, Naruto starting scarfing down his ramen as well, glancing at Lee every now and then to make sure that he was winning.

As Savanna was feeling kind of sick from watching the two ninja, Lee suddenly whirled towards her, making drops of ramen broth hit her face. When she raised her hand and wiped them off, Lee attempted to say, "Pweashe keep twack of how many we awe eating!"

Rolling her eyes, Savanna nodded, and Lee turned back around so he could continue his contest with Naruto. _They are such nutballs,_ Savanna thought amusedly.

"I do like John Lennon," Neji responded honestly. "His music is very different from any music I've heard, but I like it. It's... interesting."

Tobi suddenly shot up from the floor and started jumping up and down around Neji. "Oooo! Ooooo! Oooooo! I like John Lennon, too! He's my new favorite role model! …...Don't tell Deidara-senpai! Hehehehe."

"Don't worry," Sammy laughed. _Of course Tobi likes it,_ she thought. "Your secret is safe with us. And Neji, it should be interesting..." she told him, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering the slightest bit. It was so hard not to stare at him, into his milky eyes-

"It is SO interesting," Tobi squealed, interrupting her ongoing thoughts and snapping her back into reality. "I just think... I just think I could listen to George Harrison, too!"

Sammy's eyes widened, and her head snapped up to meet Tobi's gaze, her eyebrows furrowed together slightly. She was at a loss for words. _How does he know all of this stuff?!_ she asked herself in her thoughts. "Oh... George Harrison..." she said, eyeing him suspiciously. Slowly, her head moved down to allow her eyes to land on her iPod screen. Confused, she switched the song to one of George Harrison's songs, being too confused to even pay attention to the song she tapped on.

"Ooohhh, I LOVE this song!" Tobi exclaimed, shaking his rear end in celebration. "What's it called? Peewee's Big Adventure?!"

At that, Sammy couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "What in the world?! How do you- I meeeeeaaan, no! It is actually called... um...? She paused to actually pay attention to the song. "What is Life."

"Oh, right! How did I mix that up with Peewee's Big ADVENTURE?!" Tobi let out an enormous amount of laughter... which didn't stop for a number of minutes.

That whole time he rolled around on the floor cackling, Sammy just stared. _What... the... heck?!_ she thought, her expression growing more and more confused.

"Hmm... What next?" Deidara pondered for a moment or two before his desires took over him and he couldn't help himself. His signature smirk crawled onto his lips as his hand reached down into one of his beloved pouches. Once he pulled it out, his hand opened, his eyes landing on a small bird. His smirk only grew as he tossed it onto the bed and reached into his pouches again, and again, and again, continuing to toss the new clay birds onto the bed until there was a pile that sat almost as high as the ceiling.

"This is what I have been waiting for for my whole life, un." He smirked, and his hands very quickly fixed themselves into his hand sign.

"KATSU!"

The house shook and rattled for a few seconds, and a loud boom could be heard. The sudden noise caused Sammy to scream and fall off of the couch. Naruto began screaming at the top of his lungs, and the result of this was a mouthful of ramen being sprayed across the table. Lee continued to eat, not even phased.

And, of course, Tobi just continued laughing.

"YEAAHHH, Deidara-senpai!" he practically screamed, clutching his stomach.

Deidara coughed at the sudden burst of smoke, but once it cleared, all he could see was the color black. "I charred this room black, hm," he said to himself, looking down. "And myself."

Lee soon finished his first bowl. "I finished this bowl quicker than you did, Naruto! Yours is all over the table," he bragged.

"Hey! That's not fair, I was... um, I wasn't scared, but I... IT WASN'T FAIR, OKAY?!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs. "So I STILL WON!"

"I actually won," Lee repeated. "This round. I challenge you to another... But this time, we have to split all of the ramen Savanna has between the two of us and see who finishes the quickest!"

"The ramen in there never ends, Lee," Naruto said. "Go look for yourself... but I'm not backing down! Bring it OOONNN!"

"Yes! That is the attitude I am looking for!" Lee praised, giving Naruto a thumbs up. Jumping up from his chair and running to the cupboard with the ramen bowls, Lee opened it and gasped in awe. "Whoa, you were right, Naruto! I cannot count all of these even if I tried!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Duh, why wouldn't I be right? Just take as many as you can, and we'll split them. We can see who'll finish them first!" Heh... Of course, it'll be me, he added in his head.

"Got it!" said Lee. Scooping up as many bowls of ramen in his arms as he could hold, he made his way back to the kitchen table and dumped them on the surface in front of Naruto. Immediately after, he zipped back to his chair.

Upon counting the bowls, the two rivals discovered that Lee had picked up thirty bowls by some miracle, so they each took fifteen. Picking up their pairs of chopsticks, they counted down from three and resumed to suck up ramen like vacuums.

_Well, I probably don't need to stay with them this time,_ Savanna thought. _And how can they just forget about that huge explosion Deidara just made? Judging by those vibrations, he probably close to destroyed my guest room..._ Feeling extremely curious as to what the results of Deidara's "art perfecting" were (and partially just wanting to see Deidara), Savanna left the kitchen and returned to the guest room, where she hesitantly raised her hand and knocked on the door. When she lowered her eyes to her feet, she could see wisps of smoke escaping from under the door, so she sighed.

"Come in, un," Deidara called from the other side of the door. He lightly brushed himself off in an attempt to get rid of the ashes, but his actions had no effect on his appearance. Shrugging, he straightened up and directed his attention toward the doorway as Savanna opened the door with a creak, entering the room.

Savanna's green eyes widened as she took in her charred surroundings. The smoke made it difficult to see, but she could still make out what was left of the furniture. _It looks like this room won't be usable anytime soon,_ she thought._ Deidara really went overboard. But again, he always goes overboard when it comes to explosions..._

Savanna was fortunate enough to witness one of Deidara's rare apologetic smiles, and she found it to be so cute that she couldn't help but smile in return. "Deidara," she murmured. "You completely demolished my room..."

Deidara cast his blue eyes downwards sheepishly, and Savanna grew increasingly close to fangirling out loud. "Sorry, un," he apologized. "I got carried away..."

Savanna laughed. "I can see that." _Wow, I've never seen this side of Deidara before... It's so cute!_

Deidara's eyes met Savanna's once more. "It was worth it, hm... The explosion was unusually beautiful this time."

_Aaaaand he back to normal again._ The corners of Savanna's lips curled up in a small smile as another sigh escaped her. "I bet it was. The effects of the explosion seem to have... erm... rubbed off on you." She gestured to his charred clothes, skin, and hair.

"It seems like they have, un," Deidara replied. "That's the inevitable consequence of a good work of art."

"Do you... want me to wash your cloak for you?" Savanna offered. "You could take a shower if you want while I'm washing it..."

Neji's expressions wasn't that far off from Sammy's bewildered one, for he was also watching Tobi's peculiar scene taking place on the floor._ How in the world did Savanna become friends with him?_ he wondered.

Hinata, who was also sitting on the couch nearby with Tenten, giggled softly at the sound of Peewee's name. Her best friend returned the laugh and continued to regard the anomaly of an Akatsuki member cackling his heart out on the carpet.

Sammy quickly collected herself on the floor and sat on the couch again, her cheeks flustered. "That was embarrassing..." she muttered to herself, folding her arms. Sammy blew out a puff of air she didn't realize she was holding and brought her legs up, crossing them on the couch. _Tobi scares me,_ she thought. _He amuses me, but mostly scares me. How does he know so much about our world?!_

Tobi continued to practically die of laughter on the carpet. "That... was HILARIOUS!" he managed to choke out. "First, Peewee's Big Adventure, and then... HAHAHAHAHA!" He burst into a fit of laughter about something no one else seemed to find funny. Hinata and Tenten continued to giggle, but they were definitely not laughing at whatever Tobi was laughing at; instead, they were laughing at the boy himself.

Deidara began to take off his Akatsuki cloak upon hearing Savanna's offer. "Thanks, hm," he said, handing it to her. "But I don't think I'll shower. I'll try to get most of it off with the water from the sink, un."

As Naruto and Lee stuffed their faces with ramen, both of them continuously were glancing up to see who was eating faster and who was eating slower. If they found that their ramen bowl wasn't as empty as the other's, they would only pick up their speed.

_I'm gonna win this,_ Naruto thought smugly. _For sure._

"I will not lose!" Lee shouted while continuing to eat, although it came out muffled. Both of them were extremely determined and refused to lose.

"Yes!" Naruto argued, noodles dripping and falling from his mouth. "You're definitely gonna lose, Lee, and I'm gonna win!"

Totally oblivious to the fact that every time they spoke, ramen noodles spilled from their mouths and decreased their chances of winning, Naruto and Lee continued to bark out insults at each other. Eventually, as they were both scarfing down their last bowl, Naruto used a burst of adrenaline to his advantage and gulped down the remaining portion of his, nearly making himself gag in the process.

After coughing for a few seconds, Naruto finally regained control of his breathing and puffed out his chest triumphantly. "YES! In your face, Lee! I won!" After bragging, Naruto shot up from his chair and performed a victory dance, which consisted mostly of him jumping around in little circles. However, because of the enormous amount of ramen in his stomach, he immediately felt nauseous and plopped back down into the kitchen chair. "Ohhhh," he groaned. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Although this was completely unnecessary, Lee consumed the rest of his ramen bowl with a spark of anger in his eyes. "You merely had luck on your side," he claimed. "Since I won the last challenge, now we are even! We must have a rematch some other time!"

Naruto pulled his lips back to reveal his teeth in a daring smirk and met Lee's stare directly. "It's on," he declared without a hint of hesitation. "Prepare to be beaten into a pulp!"

Lee returned Naruto's grin. "The same goes for you!"

Still feeling high on adrenaline, Naruto shifted his gaze to the kitchen table. Because of the contents of the ramen bowls constantly flying out of his and Lee's mouth during the competition, noodles and broth were splayed across the carefully-prepared food laid on the table for the party guests, essentially making the food inedible. "Heheh," he laughed nervously. "I sure hope Savanna won't get mad..."

Smiling, Savanna gladly took Deidara's cloak in her arms, savoring the feel of the worn fabric with her fingers. Judging from the feel of the fabric and the time period she guessed she was in, she concluded that the material of the cloak was most likely cotton. She mentally attempted to store this moment away in her mind, for this was the first time she had ever held an Akatsuki cloak. And it was Deidara's cloak, no less. _I am so pathetic,_ she thought. She felt even more pathetic when she resisted to urge to smell it.

When Deidara mentioned washing off the soot from the explosion with the sink, Savanna pictured him sticking his head in the sink in order to cleanse himself. Laughing, she said, "Well, if you find that more convenient for you, then by all means, feel free to use the sink. Just keep in mind that you're welcome to use the shower, too."

Deidara thanked her again and exited the charred guest room, heading for the bathroom. Savanna's confusion peaked at seeing something unreadable in his eyes, even though she already knew that his mind was unreadable. _Why is this so weird,_ she thought, _when in my world, minds can't be read?_

Soon, Hinata and Tenten's giggling reached the point where they had to hold onto each other for support. With every passing minute, however, Neji's annoyance increased, and he had to drag his gaze away from the insane Akatsuki member on the floor in order to control his composure. Just when he felt his resolve cracking, Tobi's guffawing died down to wheezing, and the latter shakily sat up with his hands covering his stomach.

"Wowwwww," he breathed, wiping away the moisture surrounding the hole in his mask. "That was the funniest thing I've heard in awhile!" He paused. "And the greatest workout I've had in awhile!"

Sammy pursed her lips and stood up, wanting to get away from Tobi in any way possible. "That's lovely, Tobi," she grinned, beginning to back away from him. "Well, I think I'm gonna go into the kitchen..." Awkwardly, she spun around and did as she said, completely aware of the contest Naruto and Lee had just participated in.

She tried her hardest not to gag; just thinking about scarfing down fifteen bowls of ramen made her sick. The fact that the rest of the food wasn't in a state to be eaten anymore saddened her just a bit (her and her love of food), so she opened a cupboard and began sifting through it in hopes of finding something else to eat.

"It got a little crazy in there..." She laughed, still examining brands and packaging. "So I came in here. I'm sure Neji'll come in here sooner or later, too... What have you guys been doing?"

"I had a ramen-eating contest with Lee... I totally creamed him!" Naruto bragged cockily. "I'm the master of ramen eating... What can I say?"

"I am determined to win next time," Lee piped in, clearly trying to stop Naruto from telling everyone. "And I will. I have already decided it."

"That's too bad, Lee," Naruto chuckled. "Because I've already decided that I'm gonna win. Again."

"I believe that I decided first," Lee said through gritted teeth, a fake smile still plastered on his face.

"No. I did. I always do." Naruto winked, the cockiness his voice not going down at all- in fact, going up.

And of course, the two overly-competitive boys began arguing. Sammy eventually pulled out a bag of chips. After opening them and shutting the doors of the cupboard, she leaned against the counter and let said boys entertain her.

"Soo, Meji," Tobi giggled, shakily standing up and sitting right next to Neji on the couch. "What are you planning to do in the future?"

Neji's composure was so close to falling to bits. It was hard enough to ignore the peppy Akatsuki member when he was on the floor, but it was even worse when he was right next to him. "Um," Neji said uncomfortably, shifting his gaze to the floor where Tobi had once been. He didn't bother to correct Tobi's continuous name error. "I'm not exactly sure..."

"Oh, come on!" Tobi urged, somehow leaning closer towards Neji despite the fact that they were already extremely close. "There has to be something you're planning to do! Tell meee!"

Neji didn't bother to answer and stood up before walking into the kitchen, his only hope of not losing himself. Tobi, on the other hand, barely noticed that Neji had gone because he was babbling so much.

"Like, are you gonna kill someone? Or marry someone? Or get a specific job, even though you're a ninja? You're a ninja, right?" Tobi went on and on with the questions, and the more he was talking, the harder Tenten and Hinata were laughing. It was amazing how amusing Tobi could be for the two girls.

Deidara turned on the lights in the bathroom and wasn't surprised to see the areas where his skin was exposed completely black, with an exception for his eyes. He quickly turned on the hot water in the sink and began scrubbing his face with it. After a few minutes of that method, he looked into the mirror again was annoyed to see that nothing had happened.

A few more attempts later, he was still just as dark as he had been from the beginning. "Well..." he sighed. "I guess I'm going to have to do this the hard way."

He pulled on both nozzles so they were on their highest power and stuck his head in the sink, managing to scrub his face with his hands at the same time.

After a while of vigorous scrubbing, Deidara lowered his hands from his face and raised his eyes to the mirror once more. He did notice that the soot was, in fact, coming off of his skin bit by bit. His long, blonde hair was dripping wet, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. Deidara's attention was focused on removing the signs from the explosion, anyway.

During his intense scrubbing session, Savanna lingered in the hallways for what she admitted was longer than necessary in an attempt to discern what Deidara was doing in the bathroom. His unreadable mind proved to be more and more frustrating as time passed, but she could tell that he staying true to his word and used the sink instead of the shower. _Deidara is so strange sometimes,_ Savanna thought._ Why won't he just use the shower? It would have been easier for him, and I could have had the chance to see him in only a towel..._ Immediately after imagining the last thought, a deep blush set in her cheeks, and she shook her head as if she could shake that thought away. Resolving to leave Deidara to his own devices, she made her way downstairs and towards her precious laundry room so she could wash his cloak.

When Neji walked into the kitchen, it didn't take him very long to notice the ramen noodles and broth spread across the long table of food along with Naruto and Lee's bloated stomachs. He concluded that another ramen-eating contest had taken place, and a small frown appeared on his face. In the past, Naruto and Lee had done plenty of these contests before, and a particular memory presented itself on the surface of his mind. One day, Neji just happened to pass Naruto and Lee during their contest. As a result, Naruto and Lee unintentionally soaked his clothes with ramen broth and noodles. A small shudder ran through Neji, and he closed his eyes. "Ridiculous," he muttered under his breath.

Neji's voice was barely audible over the ambient sounds of the party, but Naruto picked up on his presence. A mischievous glint forming in his eyes, he situated himself so he was facing Neji. "Oh, hey, Neji," he greeted.

Sighing, Neji opened his eyes and directed a small nod towards Naruto.

Naruto smirked and kept his eyes fixed on the Hyuga. "I said... Oh, hey, Neji."

_Coming into the kitchen wasn't much of a relief from that Akatsuki member,_ Neji thought sourly. _What does Naruto want?_ "Hey," Neji reluctantly acknowledged.

"Heh, heh," Naruto chuckled. "Sammay predicted that you would come in here, and you did. There _has _to be a connection between you two or something!" Lee listened to their conversation with eager ears.

Neji blinked once Naruto mentioned Sammy. _She predicted that I would come in here?_ Suddenly interested in the conversation, he rested his lavender eyes on the pretty blonde. _Why do I feel so... intrigued by her?_

Observing Neji's demeanor shift from that of indifference to that of interest, Naruto's smirk grew._ I knew it,_ he thought. _Neji totally digs Savanna's cousin! Neji never likes anyone. Ever. For this to happen... This is totally awesome!_

Miraculously, Tobi finally realized that Neji was no longer sitting next to him after he was finished illustrating his life's story. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, whipping his head from side to side in an attempt to find Neji. "Where'd he go? Did he use a Transportation Jutsu?"

Kiba, who was also amusedly watching Tobi's monologue, answered his question. "Of course not... Neji left a while ago. You weren't speaking to anybody."

Tobi folded his arms. "Oh, yeah? Why should I take your word for it, uhhh..." He desperately tried to remember Kiba's name, but nothing came to mind. "...Cat Eyes?"

The smile immediately disappeared from Kiba's complexion. "Whoa, whoa. Did you just call me... Cat Eyes?"

Completely forgetting about Neji, Tobi giggled. "Well, yeah! I mean, just look at your eyes! They look just like a cat's!"

"Don't you ever relate me to a cat!" Kiba spat. "I'm more like a dog, if you ask me!" He paused. "And I would rather be like a dog."

"Why?" Tobi asked. "Cats are so adorable! They're cuddly and soft... and their little meows! They're so cute!"

Kiba's expression showed that what Tobi had been saying didn't change his opinion one bit. "Dogs are better," he argued. "They can actually protect you when you're in danger. And they're cuddly and soft, too... But their bark is almost always bigger than their bite."

Tobi thought about this for a minute. "Cats can protect you, too! With their claws! They're a lot sharper than dog claws."

"They can also attack your face with their claws," Kiba mumbled, not wanting to talk to the Akatsuki member any longer. "Dogs would never hurt their masters."

"Well," Tobi started, searching for something to say back to him. "Well, I've never actually had a cat before, but I'm sure they wouldn't do anything to their masters, either!"

"Cats aren't as loyal as dogs are," Kiba pointed out. "So, it's final; dogs are better than cats."

After a couple of minutes of scrubbing, all of the soot had been washed off of Deidara's face and out of his hair. The rest of it had gotten onto his cloak, so he was practically finished. But as he continued to look at himself in the mirror, he realized that something was different. It didn't take Deidara that long to realize what was up before he reapplied his eyeliner. After examining himself in the mirror once more, he set the eyeliner in his pocket and walked downstairs.

Upon reading Naruto's mind, a small blush crept onto Sammy's cheeks. _Neji does not 'dig me',_ she thought. _If anything, I'm sure it's the opposite... He'll never like me. I'm too weird for his liking..._

She glanced at Neji and was surprised to find him already looking at her. Her blush grew even more, and she looked back down at her chips._ That was the lamest thing I have ever done,_ she thought, nearly facepalming.

"So... Neji..." Naruto went on, leaning his head on his hand casually. "Tell us about yourself."

Taking his eyes away from Sammy, Neji's expression contorted to that of annoyance. "You already know me well enough, Naruto," he said, folding his arms.

"Sammay doesn't," Naruto smirked, glancing back at the blonde who was currently staring into her bag of chips. "She just got here... She probably barely knows you at all."

_Hahahaha,_ Sammy thought._ I know a lot more than you might think._ Looking up, she sighed. Neji doesn't have to do that if he doesn't want to," she said, putting the bag back into the cupboard after grabbing a handful of chips. "I can probably get to know him later, I guess."

"Why wait when you could get to know him now?" Naruto grinned cheekily at Sammy.

"Um, I don't know," she said, shifting from foot to foot. "But what if Neji doesn't want to?"

At Sammy's suggestion, a pang of sadness git Neji's heart. He wasn't exactly sure of the cause, but Sammy really did intrigue him. Her actions along with the unfamiliar things she introduced left him in a state of confusion most of the time, and as Neji was often referred to as a genius, he was not at all accustomed to being confused. Being with Sammy made Neji feel like an entirely different person; instead of looking down upon everyone else, he looked up towards Sammy- he viewed her as superior. Her mysterious demeanor made him want to figure her out, like she was a puzzle waiting to be solved.

And she was also pretty in his eyes. So, yeah. Of course he wanted to get to know her better.

"Well, I wouldn't mind getting to know her better," Neji tried stating with as little inflection in his voice as possible.

Every sentence out of Neji's mouth was a small victory for Naruto. "Oh, don't act like you don't mind," Naruto gushed. "You would take every chance you could get to grow closer to her!"

Flashing a glare at Naruto, Neji tried to prevent a blush from creeping onto his cheeks. He could feel his face heating up, but he desperately wished that it didn't show. _Naruto needs to know when to shut up,_ he thought angrily. _Although I would take any chances to get closer to Sammy..._

Neji's reaction served as enough proof for Naruto. "Dudeeee..." Naruto trailed off, still smiling. "You're totally whipped."

When Savanna entered the laundry room, her eyes automatically drifted to the hole in the ceiling and caused a smile to break out across her face. _Who would have thought that Sakura would be hiding above the ceiling?_ she wondered. _And how did she get up there? I didn't even know there was something up there..._

Just as she was about to reach the washer, Savanna planted her feet in place. Reminding herself for the millionth time that she was the most pathetic human being to have ever set foot on Earth, she tilted her head downwards and regarded Deidara's cloak. _This won't smell like Deidara anymore once I wash it,_ she thought. _This might be the last chanve to find out what he smells like..._

Bringing the cloak to her nose, Savanna took a whiff and nearly sighed with joy. Aside from the faint scent of soot from the explosion, she could detect the aromas of honeysuckle and hibiscus along with some other flowers she couldn't name. _This is so heavenly,_ she thought._ So, this is what Deidara smells like? If only I could stay here and smell this all day... Wait, what am I thinking? Gosh, I am so PATHETICASGDJDNK-_ Forcibly interrupting her thoughts, she chucked Deidara's cloak into the washer and pressed the "on" button before she could change her mind. Oddly enough, the memory of Deidara's scent led Savanna to eventually start wondering what Naruto smelled like.

"Deidara-senpai!" Tobi cried once he saw Deidara come into the living room. Paying no attention to the frown immediately appearing on Deidara's countenance, Tobi zipped over to him. "Quickly! Which are better? Dogs, or cats?"

Reaching out, Deidara gently pushed Tobi away from him. "You're in my personal bubble, Tobi. Hm! Know when you're too close." He paused to think about the question. I'm indifferent towards dogs and cats, un," he replied. "I prefer birds."

"Birds have nothing to do with cats or dogs," Kiba muttered to himself. "They aren't mammals, and they can fly... while cats and dogs have a few similar traits."

"But Deidara-senpaiiiiiiii," Tobi whined, beginning to slouch. "Birds are great and all, but I wanted to know if you liked cats or dogs... I didn't ask about birds!"

Deidara sighed whilst furrowing his eyebrows together, already annoyed. "Take the answer I gave, you, hm," he said, walking away from Tobi and settling in a chair that looked comfy.

Tobi sighed obnoxiously, and it was clear that he was doing anything to get Deidara to answer. After a few more seconds of Tobi being ignored, he sighed again, louder.

Deidara gripped the arms of the chair, trying his absolute hardest to ignore the annoying Akatsuki member. Kiba felt the same way, but he definitely wasn't as ticked off as Tobi's "senpai".

Another sigh. More ignoring. More annoyance, too. Deidara was completely aware of the fact that Tobi wouldn't give up until the former either gave him an answer or physically hurt him... but he continued to stay silent.

A few more sighs later, when Deidara looked as if he was ready to blow, Kiba decided to intervene before anything too harsh happened. "Deidara just told me he likes dogs, Tobi," he claimed, the lie slipping off of his tongue with ease.

Tobi immediately sprang up. "Awwwww, man," he sighed, sitting down next to Kiba again. Both Kiba and Deidara felt relieved that Tobi totally bought the story. "Cats are so much better! Oh, well."

Sammy blushed slightly after hearing Naruto; of course, it wasn't from reading Neji's mind. She had grown into a habit of not doing the latter, but it wasn't like she noticed that.

Naruto looked back over at her, the smile still on his face. He quickly pulled a chair up next to him and motioned for her to sit down, doing the same again to Neji, but so Neji and Sammy were facing each other. "Sit sit," he grinned. "It's time to get to know each other."

Sammy brushed a strand of her long, blonde hair behind her ear before she sat down, not sure if she wanted to do this. She did love Neji, but what if she gave away too much? Sammy mentally shook her head and promised herself she would be cautious of what she said. She didn't know how this "getting to know you" thing would work and told herself not to worry.

Neji sat down and almost hesitantly, wanting Naruto to quiet down and the warmth in his cheeks to subside. Other than these feelings, he felt a bit excited to hear what Sammy had to say, whether Naruto of he asked her questions or if she openly talked herself.

The room was silent for a moment as Lee just watched. _What is Neji thinking?_ he thought, confused. _I have never seen him wear that expression before. And he is blushing._

"So," Naruto said, scooting his chair so he was in the middle of them. "Sammay."

The blonde tore her gaze away from her lap and looked at Naruto in the eyes. "Hm?"

"Where are you from?"

I knew he was going to ask that, she thought. "A place called Utah... It's really far away."

Naruto nodded slowly, occasionally taking a small glance towards Neji to gauge his reactions. He decided to get more into something he believed Neji would be interested in. "Do you have a boyfriend?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Haha, no.**

**Banana: Every time we get a review, I feel like the happiest person in the world! *hint hint***

Sammay: Meeeeeee toooooooo! 3 ... I love fry sauce.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Sammy immediately felt uncomfortable as she folded her arms, looking back at her lap. She forced her response back towards Naruto. "Um... no..." she answered, running a hand through her hair. "Why?"

"Oh, just wondering," Naruto answered quickly. He then snapped his head towards Neji. "Why don't you ask her something, Neji?"

_Right after a question like that?_ Neji thought incredulously._ It's so obvious what Naruto is trying to do._ Situating himself so he was fully facing Sammy, Neji attempted to diffuse the awkward atmosphere with his question. "What do you like to do in your spare time?" he inquired.

Although Neji's question was merely a polite one, Naruto was completely satisfied with his match-making skills. He knew Neji was interested in Sammy, anyway- Neji's safe inquiry didn't fool him. But the real puzzle to him was if Sammy was interested in Neji, as well. _She has to be,_ he thought. _She's blushing as much as him!_

As Savanna passed by the kitchen, she simply couldn't help herself. Catching Neji's eye, she grinned, motioned to Sammy, and formed a heart symbol with her fingers. She nearly laughed out loud when Neji quickly averted his gaze and regarded her cousin once more. Naruto watched this scene and exchanged an air high-five with Savanna.

Leaving Neji and Sammy with their love genie, Savanna walked into the living room and sank into the couch, next to the two flustered kunoichi. "Whoa," she exclaimed. "Hinata, Tenten! What happened? You guys look as if you just ran a marathon." Of course, Savanna already knew what had taken place.

"Oh my gosh," Tenten breathed. "It was him. That's all there is to it." She shakily pointed at Tobi, who was currently stretching out his gloves to make it look like he had elongated fingers.

"Y-Yeah," Hinata stuttered. "He's even funnier than... Naruto..."

_ Oh, I don't know about that,_ Savanna thought. _Naruto can be pretty ridiculous sometimes._ Once again, she found her mind shifting to Naruto, and she smiled to herself as she reflected upon his many funny moments.

Savanna jumped in surprise when she found the energetic Akatsuki member in her face a couple of seconds later. "Hehe... Whatcha smiling about?" demanded Tobi.

"Oh, it's nothing," Savanna quickly replied. Her stomach did flips and turns when she heard the deep tone of Deidara's voice respond to Tobi.

"Remember what I said about personal space, hmm?"

"Whaaaat?" Tobi acted as if he knew nothing about what Deidara was talking about. "I'm not invading her personal space. See?" Catching Savanna completely off guard, he plopped himself in her lap and wrapped his arms around her neck so she was unintentionally holding him bridal style. "Now I'm in her personal space!" he proudly declared.

_Heh, heh,_ Savanna thought._ I'm holding one of the most deadly enemies in the shinobi world!_ For some peculiar reason, she didn't feel uncomfortable engaging in such an intimate act with Tobi. With any other person, she would have definitely felt otherwise, but Tobi just seemed so childlike and innocent to her (even though she knew fully well that he wasn't)._ I wonder how Deidara and Kiba are going to take this..._ she thought.

"Hey!" Kiba exclaimed, immediately rushing over and ripping Tobi from Savanna. "Get off of her. You have no business to get that close to Savanna..."

Deidara secretly was glad that Kiba had done that. That meant that Tobi wouldn't wouldn't be annoying him as much as he did before; watching him dive into Savanna's arms irked him enough. Everything the guy did got on his nerves, and he couldn't help it... Tobi was just so annoying.

"I wasn't doing anything!" Tobi defended, throwing his hands up by his head to support his statement. "All I was doing was showing Deidara-senpai what getting too close really is. I wasn't actually doing it!"

"You're such an idiot, un," Deidara muttered. "You clearly did get too close while you were demonstrating it. Hm."

_And you got way too close, actually,_ Kiba added with a glare. "Don't do it again."

Tobi began nodding furiously. "Yeah! Never again. Sorry, Savanna! Hehe!"

Sammy couldn't help but giggle after seeing Naruto and Savanna air high-five, and of course she giggled when Savanna sent the heart symbol to Neji. But she didn't believe it. Once Neji asked his question, though, she went back to normal and thought about it for a second, thankful that he asked something normal. Unlike Naruto.

"I like to draw, write, read... and eat," she explained, a light laugh following afterwards. Naruto quickly looked towards Neji to see a reaction, and smirked once he saw a small smile on his face.

_Her laugh is... cute,_ Neji thought as he examined her looks. _And she's pretty, too..._ "What's your favorite food?" he asked, as it related to the last thing she had mentioned before. Neji didn't think it was too much of a question to Naruto, either, and was pretty happy with it.

"Chicken enchiladas," Sammy smiled, barely a second between his question and her answer. "But a specific recipe. They're really good... I'll have to make them for you guys sometime."

"I've never heard of them before, but I'm sure they're good," Neji said, sending her a small smile back. The one small sign of affection made the butterflies in Sammy's stomach flutter. "How long are you staying here?" he questioned.

She almost answered, but then stopped and hesitated. How long would she be staying there? She had no clue. She wasn't even planning on coming in the first place, and her arrival was spontaneous... She could disappear from that world at any given moment. Sammy didn't want to think about that right then, so she pushed it out of her mind. "I'm not sure..." She trailed off, looking at Neji again. "Hopefully for a long time. Utah's boring."

Naruto glanced from one to the other._ Yeah... Sammy totally likes him,_ he thought._ They're both acting like I'm not in the room anymore._

Standing up, Naruto stretched and yawned with a lot of exaggeration. "Welllll, you two have fun... I'm going to the living room." And with that, he bounded into the living room and sat down next to Savanna.

_Finally,_ thought Neji._ He was increasing the awkwardness between me and Sammy... Now we can actually have a normal conversation._ "Pay no attention to Naruto," he advised. "He's like that most of the time, if you haven't noticed. It's ridiculous." Pausing, Neji tried to sort out all of his questions for Sammy in his head and decided to start with the most basic one. "So... How old are you?"

Laughing, Savanna waved Tobi off. "It's fine, Tobi... I didn't mind."

Tobi failed his arms excitedly. "Yayy!" he rejoiced.

Kiba widened his eyes. "You mean... You wouldn't mind being in a relationship with him?!"

Naruto couldn't believe his ears- he couldn't believe what this conversation had turned into (or at least what he thought it turned into) while he was busy in the kitchen. "Wait... What?" he cried in surprise. "You want to be in a relationship with..." He pointed a finger at Tobi. "...that Akatsuki member?!"

_Everyone's making too many assumptions!_ Savanna thought in distress. Her eyes flashed to Deidara so she could observe his reaction, but like the majority of the time, his expression was unreadable. His blue eyes looked calm, and his mouth was set in a straight line. He was neither smiling nor frowning- Deidara appeared to be completely neutral about the situation.

Savanna sighed and tried to explain herself. "No... That's not what I meant! I meant that I didn't feel uncomfortable or anything when Tobi sat on my lap. I'm just that kind of person..." In her last sentence, she stretched the truth a little, although she would have felt uncomfortable if the person in her lap wasn't Tobi.

Kiba folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Hmph... Are you sure about that?"

Kiba's complexion darkened further when Savanna laughed. _Why would I want to be in a relationship with Tobi, of all people?_ she asked herself. "Of course I am," she coolly replied.

Relief immediately flooded into Naruto. "I believe her, Kiba." Just when Savanna was about to note that this was probably the only time he had said something to Kiba without getting into a fight, Naruto added, "Because I _TRUST_ her."

While Savanna mentally flipped a table, Kiba shifted his glare to Naruto. "Well, of course I trust her, too!" he claimed. His voice dropped down to a mumble. "I was just making sure, that's all..."

Much to Savanna's relief, Tobi cut into their discussion before Naruto could bark out a comeback. "What time is it? It could be past my bedtime!"

"Tobi, you never stick to your 'bedtime'," Deidara remarked. "Even if you miraculously go to bed at that time, un, you always stay up and fool around."

"There's a reason why 'bedtime' isn't called 'sleepytime'!" Tobi defended, bouncing up and down. "So, what time is it? Huh? Huh? Huh?'

Quickly, Savanna checked her phone. "Whoa," she murmured. "It's nearly midnight! Time really flies in this..." She trailed off when she caught Naruto regarding her. "... party."

"Nooooo!" Tobi wailed, startling everyone. "It's soo late! If I stay up too late, then I won't be able to go to sleep at all!" At this, Deidara actually cringed. "There was this one time-"

"I don't want to hear it," Deidara interrupted. "Hm!"

"But it's so funny-"

"I said, I don't want to hear it, un!" Deidara raised his voice, shooting daggers at Tobi with his eyes.

_Aww... Now I really want to hear what happened,_ Savanna thought. "The party ends at midnight, so people should be leaving soon," she told Naruto. Sadness threatened to overwhelm her as she considered spending the night alone. Acting on an impulse, she blurted, "Naruto... Well, um... Would you consider spending the night?" _Holy. Crap. What did I just say?!_

Naruto's eyes lit up after hearing Savanna's words. "Would I consider it? I won't consider it for a moment... it's already a yes!" he said with a large smile.

Kiba's eyes soon turned into white circles. He almost objected, but then realized that it would be rude for him to say something if Savanna didn't invite him in the first place._ Of course she asks Naruto to stay the night,_ he thought, mumbling to himself. _He gets all of the attention._

"Hey, Savanna?" Deidara asked, leaning back into his chair. "The current hideout is pretty far away, and it's already dark, hm... do you think I could stay the night here, un?"

"I wanna stay the night, too—" Tobi tried to say before Deidara interrupted him.

"No!" he shouted before he realized how loud it was and lowered his voice slightly. "No. If Savanna says yes, you're sleeping outside, un."

"Isn't Sammay staying the night, too?" Naruto asked, and Kiba was a bit surprised that the crazy blonde didn't brag to him. He was actually relieved. "I don't know where she's staying, but I would think it's here."

"Sixteen," Sammy answered. "The same as Savanna." Just to make it seem like she didn't know every detail about him, she decided to ask him that same question. "And you?"

Lee decided to leave the two alone and stood up, slowly beginning to make his way out of the room. His goal was to not disturb either of them at all on his way out. First, he examined his surroundings and planned out the perfect route. Second, he took his right foot and very, very carefully...

...tripped on the leg of the chair and tumbled to the floor, taking down all of the chairs and the table with him. In result, a large crash was emitted from the fall, and Lee was covered with noodles, broth and every other uneaten food item from the party before.

Upon hearing the booming noise, Sammy jumped and was startled for a moment, but the scared phase didn't last for long as another fit of laughter came over her. She began to laugh so hard that tears streamed down her pink cheeks, and every time she looked at the mess beside her, she only laughed even harder.

Neji shook his head at his ridiculous teammate, but nonetheless, he still found Lee amusing._ Only he would be able to take down all of the chairs and the table with one step,_ he thought. A smile tugging at the corner of his lips, he sighed. "Lee, how in the world did that happen...?"

"Ow, ow, ow..." Lee groaned. Causing plates and silverware to clatter, he picked himself up from the floor and attempted to brush off the food. "I do not know, Neji! I guess I was not being careful enough when I tried to leave..."

"Be more like a ninja, Lee," Neji urged. "If you go around wreaking havoc wherever you go, you'll attract the attention of everyone, including rogue ninja."

A sullen expression crossed Lee's face, but it disappeared as soon as it came. Suddenly, Lee looked up with determination. "You are right!" he declared. "I will train my hardest to be a stealthy ninja! Soon, even you will not see me coming, Neji!" Clenching his fist, Lee sprinted out of the kitchen- but he didn't stop there. He continued on and through the front door, disappearing in a flash.

After watching Lee go, Neji directed his gaze to Sammy once more. "I wonder what we're going to do with this mess," he said, motioning to the overturned chairs and table. "And by the way, I'm seventeen. Tenten, Lee, and I are all a year older than Naruto and his classmates."_ I'm glad Sammy's in my age group,_ he thought gratefully.

Still sulking, Kiba absentmindedly looked into the kitchen. When he noticed the overturned chairs and table along with Neji and Sammy, he became majorly distracted. _I've seen them together a lot today,_ he thought._ And the look on their faces- they obviously like each other. Heh... Did something happen?_ "Hey, Neji," he called. When Kiba captured the attention of the Hyuga, he smirked and winked. "That's a huge mess right there... Did you two have too much fun?"

Neji immediately flushed red. "Lee caused that mess," he hastily explained. "It was nothing more."

"Heh," Kiba chuckled. "Sure, sure. Whatever you say."

_Oh, yeah,_ Savanna thought._ Sammay is sleeping over, too... And basically every night we're in this world._ She blushed madly upon Deidara's request. "Of course you can stay, Deidara," she complied. "And Tobi can, too... But wouldn't it be a little harsh to make him sleep outside? It's kind of cold."

"I don't care what conditions he's subjected under, un," Deidara replied. "And really, it would be better if it was cold. Maybe it would serve as punishment for being so irritable, hm."

Tobi couldn't take anymore of Deidara's commentary, so he burst into tears and failed around on top of Naruto and Savanna. "WAHHH!" he wailed.

Naruto jumped in surprise. "What the heck?! Get_ off!_ You're getting your tears on me!"

_Oh my gosh, that's so mean! _Savanna thought. _Why do I like Deidara so much when he treats Tobi like crap?_ Hesitantly, she reached out towards the bawling Akatsuki member, but stopped, unsure of what to do. "Um, Tobi? It'll be okay... I'll give you a sleeping bag. It'll be really warm."

Savanna doubted that Tobi could actually hear her over his wailing, but much to her surprise, his crying abruptly died down to a sniffle. "Why... Why don't you just let me sleep inside, like the rest of you?" he innocently inquired.

"I dooooon't think Deidara would like that..." Savanna carefully chose her words so she wouldn't send Tobi into a state of despair again. "That's just what I think. I don't want you to get hurt by Deidara or anything, Tobi."

"Yeah," Deidara agreed. "If you come into her house and disturb me while I sleep, I won't hesitate to blow you up, un."

Tobi visibly shook with fear. "Y-Yes, Deidara-senpai!

At that, Tobi ran outside and sat on the lawn, ready to be served with a warm, toasty sleeping bag. At least that's what he hoped it would be.

"It's about time he left, hm," Deidara muttered, bringing his hands behind his head to relax. "Maybe I'll actually get some peace tonight."

"Oh, tonight's gonna be so much fun," Naruto gushed, clasping his hands together. "And tomorrow, of course... heh."

Tobi, immediately feeling lonely, slowly made his way towards a window that he was positive led to the living room, where the action went on. It was the only one he saw while he was out there that didn't have the curtains drawn, and he was curious to see what he could spy while looking through it.

Cautiously, he crawled so he was underneath the window, unseen from anyone inside. Slowly, he brought his head up and peeked inside, and to his delight, he had the perfect view of Deidara.

"Deidara-senpai!" he whispered, waving frantically. But right as he did so, he realized that if Deidara saw him he would definitely blow him up, so he quickly ducked out of view right as Deidara snapped his head towards the sudden sound. After all, the window was open a crack and it was easy for Deidara to hear mostly anything that went on outside of the house.

"Hm," Deidara murmured, looking back towards the rest of the party. "I swear I just heard Tobi, hm."

Right as the artsy Akatsuki member looked away, Tobi poked his head up once more, attempting to get as much time looking at Deidara as he could. Of course, said person saw him in the window from the corner of his eye and quickly looked over again as Tobi ducked.

Deidara began to quickly look at the window and then back as Tobi went up and down behind the window. This went on for a few seconds. Eventually, Deidara stopped and just stared at the window while Tobi continued bouncing up and down, hiding one second and being completely visible the next.

Once the orange-masked boy realized he was the only one moving, he froze and just stared for a second. "Uh, oh..."

Kiba began to chuckle himself as he fixed his eyes on the blonde, who seemed to not be able to stop laughing. She had buried her face in her hands by now, slightly embarrassed that she couldn't stop laughing. What she had just saw had pictured itself in her mind, so wherever she looked she could see Lee falling... and as a result, made her laugh continuously.

It took her another minute or two before she calmed down. Taking a deep breath, she wiped the tears from her eyes and sighed. "That was embarrassing," she blinked, looking up at Neji, who was looking at her with an amused expression on his face. "My laugh sucks and I was screaming it for five minutes straight."

"You don't like your laugh?" Neji questioned. He hesitated, almost as if saying the next several words was foreign to him (which, in a way, was true). "I like it. It's... nice." In an attempt to disguise his embarrassment, he quickly came up with a question. "Shall we continue our game?"

After reading Neji's mind, Savanna inwardly squealed with delight._ Neji is really opening up to you, Sammay! Awww... It's so adorable!_ Directing her attention to Naruto, she smiled. "Yeah," she agreed. "I'm excited, too! Should we sleep down here, in the living room? I mean, if we used my bedroom and my guest bedroom, we wouldn't all be together for the sleepover."_ Hmm,_ she pondered._ Since you're sleeping over as well, Sammy, you should invite Neji! Heheh..._

"I think we should sleep down here," Naruto responded. "It wouldn't be a real sleepover if everyone was separated!" In reality, there was only one person that he really wanted to be with.

"Okay, cool," Savanna replied. As she was distracted by everything going around her, she remained oblivious to Naruto's thoughts. "I'm going to go get a sleeping bag for Tobi. I think they're in my closet or something..."_ Well, it is up to me where things are situated in this world, since it's a role play,_ she reminded herself. When she dashed up her staircase and opened the doors of her closet, she quickly found where the sleeping bags were stored.

But there was a minor problem.

There were only three sleeping bags.

Immediately, Savanna began to sweat buckets. When she reserved one of the sleeping bags for Tobi, that only left two to be used by her, Sammy, Naruto, possibly Neji, and Deidara._ Deidara can have the couch,_ she decided. _It would probably be for the best._ Someone would have to share at least one sleeping bag, and if Neji agreed to stay the night, then everyone would have to share one with somebody. Savanna blushed when she came up with the solution that she would have to share with Naruto (she was the closest to him) and Neji would have to share with Sammy, if he accepted the future request. Of course, she thought the latter was cute and adorable, but when she considered sleeping in such close proximity with Naruto, her stomach felt like it was on a roller coaster.

Meanwhile, Deidara lost his temper and shot up from the armchair, storming over to Tobi by the window. Tobi shrunk away, almost as if he was trying to sink into the ground.

"Cut it out, un!" Deidara shouted. "Stop being such a _stalker!_ Hm! This is your last warning. If you don't behave, you will face much worse than the wrath of my explosions." His facial expression contorted to that of fury, and one didn't need to read his mind to know what he was feeling.

Tobi shrunk back even further and held his hands out in an apologetic gesture. "I-I'm sorry, Deidara-senpai! I was just trying to get a look at your... perfect hair!"

At Tobi's response, Deidara ran a hand through his long hair and let the blonde strands fall through his fingertips. "I know my hair is perfect, hm," he remarked, a smug expression briefly replacing his furious one. "But that doesn't give you an excuse to be a stalker. If I ever catch you spying on me again, un, I won't hesitate to follow through with my threat."

Only a moment after Deidara uttered his last sentence, Savanna appeared at the front door with a sleeping bag in her hands. Since she couldn't read Deidara's mind, she had no idea that he was standing at the window and threatening to kill Tobi._ Maybe this isn't such a good time to interrupt him,_ she thought.

Just as Savanna was about to leave to give Deidara and Tobi their space, Tobi eagerly dashed into the foyer and snatched the sleeping bag from her arms. "Thank youuu!" he said, dashing back into the cool night air.

"Um, you're welcome...?" Savanna replied, blinking in surprise.

Tobi began to giggle as he slithered into the sleeping bag while standing. It took a minute or two, but eventually Tobi was completely inside, it being zipped up and everything.

"I... I..." Tobi said, searching for the perfect word. "I'm a potato!"

With another giggle, Tobi began hopping around the front lawn, beginning to think he was more of a bunny than a potato. "I don't have big ears," he reminded himself. "...But I wish I did!"

As he continued to hop around, he didn't notice as he slowly approached a small bit of the ground that was very wet and muddy. He only continued to giggle and hop, until he made a large leap and landed straight into the mud, his feet immediately losing control and, as a result, he of course fell to the ground.

A few seconds passed of him lying there, completely silent... until he burst into a fit of tears and began to roll around. "OWOWOWOW!" Tobi bawled, a fountain of tears spewing from the small hole on his mask.

Deidara's eye twitched as he stared out the window. Everything Tobi did seemed to annoy him, and he was especially annoyed at this point because said person's cries were one of many of the things that annoyed him most.

Naruto sat eagerly on the couch, bouncing up and down without even realizing it. The giddy Jinchuriki managed to catch Kiba's eye. Slowly, he craned his neck to look at Kiba, and his eyes narrowed once he had studied the Inuzuka for a minute.

"Excited for a sleeping bag?" Kiba questioned with an icy glare.

"Yeah," Naruto answered with a cheeky grin. "You jealous?"

"What? No," Kiba answered a little too quickly. "Why would you even ask that?"

"Because you're red from anger," Naruto replied. "Or you're blushing... can't really tell."

Kiba furrowed his eyebrows together, completely giving away the fact that he was, in fact, jealous. "Shut your trap, Naruto," he growled. "I'm not jealous and that's final."

"If you weren't jealous, you wouldn't be getting so mad," Naruto retorted with a light laugh.

"I'm not getting mad!" he nearly screamed, but then kept quiet only a split second later after realizing how loud it was.

All Naruto needed to do in order to validate his opinion was to send Kiba a slight nod.

_ There are only three sleeping bags?!_ Sammy thought._ I mean, who knows if Neji's gonna sleepover, but if he does..._ "Oh, sure," she answered after she snapped back into reality. "Sorry. I kind of zoned out..."

"That's alright," Neji assured her. "So..."

"Do you wanna sleepover?" Sammy blurted out before she could shrink back.

To reiterate, Neji didn't fully admit it to himself, but his attraction to Sammy was partially due to her ability to completely shock and catch him off guard (the other reason being her pretty appearance, of course).

And, well.

This was a perfect example.

Sleepover. Sleepover? Neji had known Sammy for barely a day, and now she was asking him to spend the night with her. Sure, he had nothing to do at the Hyuga compound except train and sit around and he hadn't done anything fun in a while and there was that crush he had on her that seemed to be growing exponentially-

Actually, the more Neji thought about it, the more he wanted to take Sammy up on her offer.

He kept his eyes locked on hers as he contemplated about his decision and tried not to let surprise leak into his expression, but the silence was dragging so long to the point where the atmosphere was growing increasingly more awkward. The last thing Neji wanted was for Sammy to feel uncomfortable and regret suggesting the sleepover because of his hesitation... And he most definitely did not wish for her to think that he didn't want to spend the night with her.

Because Neji did. Intensely so.

So he really, really needed to answer in the next few seconds before she got the wrong idea- but what would he say? How would Hiashi react if he opened the door to Neji's room in the middle of the night only to find it vacant? How would Hinata react if nobody showed up at the Hyuga courtyard for the daily training session at dawn?

Neji cleared his throat, his gaze never wavering. "Sure," he replied.

His decision was totally _un-Nejilike,_ but he didn't really mind as long as he was spending time with Sammy. He mentally made plans in his head to contact his family later and give them the _Oh-I-Forgot-To-Tell-You-But-I-Got-A-Sudden-Mission -And-It-Took-Longer-Than-I-Thought_ excuse. Yes, it was risky, but being with Sammy was very unpredictable and made Neji feel like a jumbled mass of confusing emotions... It brought out feelings and induced actions that were almost entirely new to him.

Tobi was no longer visible from the window, but his cries were impossible to ignore. Clenching his fists, Deidara furrowed his eyebrows and gritted his teeth together in anger. "What," he spit out, "is that idiot doing now, hm?!"

Frantically, Savanna read Tobi's mind and grasped his situation outside. She sensed that Deidara was near his breaking point (she would have laughed at Tobi if Deidara didn't look like he could blow up the entire Leaf Village) and tried to ease his pent-up anger. "He just slipped on some mud outside, Deidara," she told him. "It's nothing to worry about... He'll stop crying eventually. If you just stop paying attention to him and go somewhere else, it'll be like he never came here with you. How about we return to the living room?"

Deidara took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. Much to Savanna's relief, his features visibly relaxed after a moment. "...You're right, un," he admitted. "I need to get away from that moron." Without waiting for a response, he walked back into the living room and sat back down in his armchair, Savanna following shortly behind.

Kiba found it slightly strange that Naruto didn't immediately contradict his words, so he narrowed his eyes at the orange ninja and allowed only a sound of annoyance to slip past his lips. "Hmph." _I bet Savanna's only inviting Naruto because she feels bad for him... After all, he has no parents and no family. Yeahh... That's definitely the reason._

Of course, Kiba felt the need to share that with Naruto. Thankfully, he knew well enough to not mention the part where Naruto didn't have any family, but he nonetheless strove to hurt his feelings somehow. "Savanna just feels bad for you," he mumbled, just loud enough for Naruto to hear. "That's the only reason she asked for you to sleep over."

Naruto snorted. "The only reason she asked me to sleep over is because I'm totally _hawt,_" he retorted. "And she didn't ask you because you're totally_ nawt._"

"I'm pretty hawt if you ask me," Kiba shot back, putting his hands on his hips defensively.

"Says your _mom!_" the spiky haired blonde guffawed. He couldn't help but break out into a fit of laughter after he let the words out of his mouth.

Kiba's cheeks soon heated up into a vibrant crimson. "So?! Why does that matter, Naruto?!"

"Because you're forever alone!" Naruto laughed. "Savanna totally loves me more than she loves you. Actually, I don't think she loves you at all!"

"She totally loves me!" Kiba argued. "And why would she love you in the first place?!"

"I already explained this," Naruto winked. "She would love me because I'm totally hawt."

A small trace of a smile appeared on Deidara's lips as Tobi's cries subsided to a much quieter volume. "I'm glad I won't have to be sleeping in the same room as Tobi, un," he sighed. "He's too much of a nuisance."

Tobi's tears eventually came to a halt after a couple more minutes. He then shakily stood up, wiping the stream of tears that stained his mask along with his sleeping bag. "That hurt my bum," he sniffled. "I wish Deidara-senpai would let me sleep inside. Ah, well... I'll have to play with my besties tomorrow!"

Sammy breathed a quiet sigh of relief upon hearing Neji's response, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering. She had to admit that she started to get a bit nervous during his pause, wondering whether she should've asked the question or not. "If it's too much of a bother, then don't feel like you have to," she assured him. "Really, it's fine."

Neji found the same expression on her face as he studied her features- the expression he recognized a number of hours before when she said he didn't have to be her partner during the pool game. He could tell that she really wanted him to stay. "No, it's not going to be an issue," Neji said with a small smile. "I'm sure my family won't mind."

Sammy quickly read his mind and was saddened to find out that he actually wasn't positive of the reaction of his family. "Are you sure?"

Neji nodded. "I'm sure."

She sighed softly, a smile following afterwards. _I guess I'll just let it go,_ she thought._ There's no point in asking him anymore._ "Okay. If you say so."

Neji found that he couldn't bring himself to wipe the soft smile off his face, and a tingly sensation spread throughout his entire being. He inferred that the strange feeling arose from his excitement about the sleepover, but he had no desire for it to go away. He wasn't actually sure if he preferred to feel this way or not (he hadn't been sure of anything for the past several hours, despite what he claimed), but he settled on relishing the moment; any feelings Sammy awakened within him_ had_ to be good.

_I wonder what her career as a shinobi is like,_ Neji thought. Seizing the opportunity to get to know her better, Neji inquired, "So what rank of ninja are you, Sammy? And what academy did you attend?" By hearing the name of her former academy, Neji felt as if he would hopefully recognize it and finally be able to figure out where the obscure place called "Utah" was located.

As Savanna listened to Naruto and Kiba's bickering, she couldn't help but take notice of their constant referring to their "hawtness", so she also couldn't help but glaze her green eyes over Naruto's figure.

And she couldn't help but admire him.

Sometimes, she cursed Naruto's obliviousness to his surroundings, and sometimes, she cherished it. This was one of those well-appreciated moments- she took the time to marvel and admire him, but Naruto was too busy yapping away at Kiba to detect her gaze. Savanna drunk in his features with her eyes; she did nothing less than moon over his head of blonde spikes, his vibrant, cerulean eyes, the shape of his jawbone, and even his whiskers. Before she knew it, the temperature of her cheeks felt similar to that of a stove on high, and she found herself agreeing with Naruto's proclamation ('I'm the _hawtest_ guy in the world, Kiba').

After another minute of arguing, Kiba groaned in frustration and threw his hands up in the air. "You're _impossible_, Naruto! You obviously don't know attractive when you see it. Just for your info, it's _right here_." He jabbed a finger at his chest.

"You're right... if you're talking about me!" Naruto retorted, the smirk still present on his countenance.

_That was officially the worst comeback I have ever heard,_ Savanna thought with a smile.

"Dude..." Kiba drawled. "I'm not."

"I said 'if'," Naruto pointed out.

Kiba leaned closer to Naruto, as if increasing the proximity would somehow get the message through the latter's skull. "But _I'M NOT._"

Naruto knew fully well that he really shouldn't have continued to provoke the furious Inuzuka, but he had no restraints when it came to arguments.

And, to be frank, messing with Kiba's nerves brought him joy.

They were still best friends, of course. Everyone has their own way of strengthening the bonds with their friends, and quarreling was just Naruto and Kiba's way of going about doing it.

So Naruto felt no regret when he repeated, "I said 'if'."

Slowly, Kiba folded his arms.

And stared.

Savanna held her breath in anticipation for what was about to come._ Oh, no,_ she thought. _Will the fight get physical? Will I have to ask for Deidara's help again?_

Savanna let out a sigh of relief when Kiba showed signs of calm movement. "I'm outta here," he mumbled. "The party's basically over, anyway.."

"Oh... Are you sure?" Savanna worriedly questioned.

Kiba's expression seemed to soften as he glanced in her direction. "Yeah, it's okay. I just think we're all tired. Anyway, see you later."

"See you," Savanna replied as he made his way out the front door and into the darkness._ That was kind of strange,_ she noted in her mind. _Kiba usually doesn't act like that..._ Not a minute later, Tenten and Hinata passed her by as they headed in the same direction.

"T-Thanks for the party," said Hinata. "It was, um... really fun..."

"Yeah," Tenten grinned. "I had a blast! Throw another one sometime, will you?"

Savanna smiled warmly at the kunoichi. "Of course, and no problem. I had fun, too! Goodnight, you guys."

"G-Goodnight," Hinata hastily responded. Whispering excitedly to each other about the current gossip of the Leaf Village, the two best friends walked closely together as they left Savanna's fanfiction home.

Blinking, Sammy stared at Neji for a second.

_ Crap._

"Oh," she started, searching for a reasonable answer as quickly as she could. "...I actually didn't go to an academy... the town I live in is small, so we don't really have one. My dad trained me."

_ That was the stupidest thing I have ever said,_ she thought, mentally banging her head against a wall. _Ever, ever, ever._

Neji nodded slowly, his hopes of figuring out exactly where she came from falling to his feet. At least he got to know more about her. "Interesting... and your ranking?"

"I'm not exactly sure, since ranks aren't particularly specified in Utah," Sammy smiled sheepishly. "But I would say I'm around a Chunin. Maybe even a Jonin, but yeah... still not certain."

_ You wish, Sammy,_ she thought, still banging her head against the mental wall. _You would fail if you even tried to complete a Jutsu..._

"Kiba's so annoying," Naruto said, walking towards Savanna. He said this even though he was grinning. "I'm definitely hawter than he is, don't ya think?"

Before Savanna could reply, Ino (who had a death grip on Sasuke's wrist) appeared out of nowhere, right in between them. "If you're talking about Sasukeee, then of course not! Sasuke is impossible to beat when it comes to hawtness," she gushed. "Everyone knows that!"

"I wasn't talking about Sasuke, Ino," Naruto said with narrowed eyes. "Where the heck did you come from?"

"Oh, anywhere and everywhere," she winked. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell Savanna that Sasuke and I are leaving. We had tons of fun!"

Sasuke sent Savanna a pleading look, his eyes screaming for help. One of those extremely rare expressions.

"Thanks for inviting us! BYEEEE!" Ino grinned, running out of the door, Sasuke being forced out with her.

"Ino's annoying, too," Naruto grumbled. "And I actually feel bad for Sasuke, this time. He's been stuck with her all day."

"Bye! Buh bye!" Tobi waved to Hinata and Tenten as they left, and to Sasuke and Ino once they had rushed out of the house. "I'll hopefully see my most favorite people ever soon! Yeah! That's you guys!"

Completely ignoring Tobi, Ino whirled on Sasuke and tried to put on her most dazzling smile. "Sasukeeeee," she breathed. "You wanna know who my person is?"

Sasuke pried at the _claws_ strangling his wrist, as if this attempt's outcome would be any different than the previous ones. He seriously couldn't feel his entire right hand because Ino had cut off his circulation a long time ago, and Sasuke had become increasingly more fearful about losing that hand entirely. And Sasuke was never fearful about anything.

"I don't care," he seethed. "Let go of my wrist, you idiot!" _Why is her face so contorted now?_

"Ooohhhh, Sasukeeeee," Ino gushed, her smile growing wider. "You're raising your voice! That means... That means you must be passionate about our relationship! Don't play hard-to-get, now... We all know that you're just _DYING_ to know who my favorite person is! Well, it's youuuu, of course!"

_Who's 'we'?_ Sasuke wondered. "I wish I was your least favorite person so you would leave me alone," he spat. In his next sentence, he tried to lace his words with as much menace as he could muster. "If you don't let go of me in the next ten seconds, you will experience a lot of pain, Ino."

Ino did shiver, but she shivered with excitement instead of fear. "Ohhhh, so that's what you like," she prattled with a wink. "You like doing it rough, huh? That's fine with me!"

That was it.

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore.

His rage reached a point so high that the murderous glare that followed was daunting enough to make even Ino's chatter falter. Since Sasuke's right hand was handicapped at the moment, weaving signs and performing Jutsu were definitely out of the question. After a lot of contemplating and glaring, he finally made up his mind...

…and kicked her away from him as hard as he could. It wasn't his fault that he just happened to land the blow on her chest.

When Sasuke's kick sent Ino flying, he faintly heard a 'pop' in his wrist, but he blatantly ignored it and tore off down the road, in the direction of his house. His sprint didn't slow down in the least until he was fully inside his home with the door locked behind him. Breathing heavily, Sasuke slumped down the wall of the foyer and brushed raven-blue hair out of his eyes (with his left hand, of course)._ Why me?_ he thought despairingly.

_I feel so bad for Sasuke,_ thought Savanna. _I'm glad he made it home in one piece... and without Ino attached to him._ When she detected movement in her peripheral vision, she glanced up to see Naruto standing even closer to her than before.

"Soooo..." he trailed off. "Where were we before Ino and Sasuke interrupted us?" Although Savanna was positive that he knew the answer to his own question, Naruto pretended to pause and think about it for a moment. "Oh, yeah!" he smiled. "I'm definitely hawter than Kiba, don't ya think?"

Just when Savanna began to think that she could get away without answering his question, he just had to repeat it. A blush threatened to overpower her cheeks once more when she recalled how she admired Naruto's features not too long ago. With Naruto's blue eyes fastened on her own, her brain degraded into a bowl of mush, and Savanna was faintly aware that she had nodded her head helplessly in response to his inquiry.

The words catching in his throat, Naruto blinked in surprise. "Really...?" he choked out.

"Y-Yeah," Savanna stuttered._ I have to be honest, right? Even though it's embarrassing..._

Although Neji still had no knowledge of the place where Sammy originated, he reminded himself of her ninja rank and noted that he was still getting to know her better, little by little. "I see," he observed. "I'm a Jonin, by the way. What rank missions have you completed?" _Sammy looks like a formidable shinobi,_ thought Neji. _I wouldn't be surprised if she had completed many A, or even S-ranked missions..._

Blowing out a puff of air, Sammy pretended to think about the answer as if she was shuffling through all of the missions she had completed. _I'm so pathetic,_ she thought. "A little bit of everything, I suppose," she answered, leaning back in her chair.

_ I feel like she's hiding something,_ Neji thought, studying her. _But what?_ As he continued to think, he found himself feeling more attracted to her as the seconds ticked by, the urge to know more about her continuously getting stronger. "I would think so," he nodded. "Does Utah have some sort of a Kage?"

That question made Sammy want to jump off a cliff, get shot with a machine gun, bang her head against a hot frying pan, and explode all at the same time.

She couldn't say no... who else would assign the imaginary missions Sammy went on? And if she said yes, which she would, she was almost certain he would ask for the name. "...Yes," Sammy began, speaking slowly to give her time to think. "You could say that."

Neji felt slightly confused at her answer, but decided to go with the first thing she said, as it made the most sense to him. He was wondering why she added 'You could say that' into her answer, but ignored it after a couple of seconds. Figuring he could most likely pinpoint where she came from after recognizing the name of her Kage, he asked her what his or her name was. As Sammy predicted.

_ I need to think of a name, quick!_ she thought frantically, and soon a name that sounded reliable popped up into her mind. _It's not like Neji would know who he actually was..._

"Masashi Kishimoto," Sammy answered, almost laughing at how Naruto fans would react if they were sitting next to her.

A small smile appeared on Naruto's lips as he continued to stare at Savanna. It gradually grew as he replayed her nodding over and over in his head. "That's a relief," he chuckled. "I kinda thought you would say we were both equal in hawtness or something..."

Just then, Sai stepped down the staircase casually after doing who knows what upstairs. After he walked for a second or two, he stopped next to Savanna and Naruto. "It's very late," he said, not saying anything else.

"Duh," Naruto said, wishing everyone besides those who were spending the night would leave already so he and Savanna could have a conversation without any interruptions. "That's why you should probably leave."

No sign of hurt or anger showed itself on Sai's face after hearing Naruto's harsh comment. "So should you, shouldn't you?"

"Actually, I'm spending the night. And you're not. So bye."

Sai stared at Naruto for a moment before looking back towards Savanna. "Thank you for the party, Savanna," he thanked. "Your lotions are very fragrant."

_ So he was messing with my lotions the whole time he was upstairs?_ Savanna wondered._ I kind of doubt that..._ "I get the best ones," she joked. "Now I know what to get you for your birthday!... Erm, when's your birthday, again?"

Sai politely smiled. "November 25th," he replied.

Just to make sure, Savanna pulled out her phone and checked the date- May 4th. Something pricked at her mind and reminded her that tomorrow was supposed to be an important day, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was...

"Oh, your birthday is kind of a long ways away," Savanna remarked. "I'll try to remember to get lotion for you..." _If I'm still here..._

Sai's smile didn't waver, even as he glanced at the strange contraption in her hand. "Thanks." Being the awkward person he was, he held the smile and continued to linger in the living room, not saying anything else.

In order to break the silence, Savanna cleared her throat and laughed nervously. "Well, um... No problem. And thanks for coming."

"You're welcome," Sai coolly replied.

After several more seconds of Sai just standing there, Savanna started to worry that she would start sweating. _The atmosphere is too awkward!_ she exclaimed in her mind. _Sai has many books telling him how to do certain things, right? Instead of buying him lotion, I should get him a book on how to diffuse an awkward situation..._

Naruto folded his arms and grinded his teeth together in irritation. "Hmph! Why won't you just leave, already?"

Sai directed his indifferent gaze towards Naruto. "This isn't your house... Am I correct? Only the host has the authority to tell someone to leave their home. In this case, it's Savanna."

_ He must have read that in a book somewhere,_ Savanna thought jokingly.

Naruto scowled and raised his voice further. "Why do you have to be such a butthead, Sai? You seriously need to learn manners or something!"

Suddenly, a mysterious glint appeared in Sai's eyes, and much to Naruto's bewilderment (but not to Savanna's), he fished around in his pocket... and produced a small book.

And it's title read, 'Manners: All You Need to Know about Proper Etiquette'.

"I do, in fact, know all about manners, Naruto," Sai claimed. "So I wouldn't be talking right now."

Sai was so completely unbelievable to Naruto that the latter, after opening and closing his mouth in an attempt to find words powerful enough to convey his feelings of appallment, just decided to give up and shut up.

Cutting Sai off before he could say anything to anger Naruto further, Savanna laughed once more (although, she did admit that it sounded a bit more forced than the last one). "Haha... Hah... Welllll, thanks again for coming, Sai! It was fun... Hopefully, we'll get to see each other again soon. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Savanna. Since Naruto seems a little confused about all this, maybe you should consider getting him this book, too." Sai held up his book and gestured to it with his eyes. "It's very helpful."

At that, Naruto proceeded to drop to his knees and repeatedly bang his head on the coffee table.

"I'll think about it," Savanna decided, ready to burst out laughing at any moment. Luckily, Sai finally left to return to his home, and a few minutes later, Savanna also bid her farewells to Shikamaru and Choji.

_Masashi Kishimoto?_ Neji repeated the unfamiliar name in his head. "Hmm... I don't think I recall who he is," he murmured. "What an obscure place you live in, Sammy. It's a wonder Lady Tsunade didn't assign me any missions relating to that place... I'll mention Utah the next time I see her. It's possible that she doesn't know of it, either."

"I highly doubt she knows of it," Sammy said. She'd be surprised if Lady Tsunade did know about Utah... no one in this world should have known about Utah, and she was still puzzled by the fact that Tobi did seem to know a little.

"Oh," he nodded. "Why's that?"

"No reason," Sammy said, sending him a small smile. "It's just a thought... not many people know about Utah. Here, at least."

_ That's what I'm trying to figure out,_ he thought. _Why have only Sammy and Savanna heard of the place?_ "Is it hidden by a genjutsu?" he asked, thinking that would be the only possible reason.

"That would be pretty cool," she replied. "But unfortunately, it's not. Utah's pretty big, too."

_ This doesn't add up..._ Neji thought, still unfamiliar with his confused state. _If it's big and isn't hidden by a genjutsu, then why isn't it on the world map? How could someone like me miss it?_ "How strange," he murmured.

"Yeah..." Sammy trailed off, leaning her chin on her hands. "It's a bit... complicated, you could say."

After the whole party had gone, Naruto sprang up from the floor next to the coffee table and quickly made his way towards Savanna once again. "It's about time everyone left," he said to her with a wink. "They kept on interrupting us."

Naruto's suggestive tone sent shivers down Savanna's spine, but she couldn't help but notice that Deidara was intently regarding them on his armchair. Although she had no desire to draw attention to Deidara, her eyes nonetheless flashed to him for a brief second. _What if... What if he thinks that Naruto and I like each other?_ she worried.

Almost immediately after Savanna had that thought, her worry subsided and a small smile appeared on her face._ I do love Deidara, of course_, she thought,_ but he's out of my league. He's three years older than me, and he's an Akatsuki member... Plus, there's the fact that I don't think he loves anything but his art. But Naruto, on the other hand..._

As Savanna continued to ponder over Naruto, she couldn't deny the fact that she was more or less falling in love with him (if not already in love). She couldn't see any flaws in his appearance, and although she could understand how other people could see faults in his personality, Savanna viewed those faults as aspects unique to Naruto that made him unlike anyone else.

When Savanna first found herself in this wonderful world, she had set her sights on Deidara. However, as the day progressed, her affinity for Naruto had seemed to grow a thousand-fold. Savanna still loved Deidara, but it was a different kind of love than the love she had for Naruto... She viewed Deidara similar to how she would view a celebrity.

So, Savanna decided to pay no mind to Deidara as he smiled warmly at Naruto.

"Haha, Interrupting us? Did you have some other things you wanted to talk about, Naruto?" Savanna tried to make her tone as suggestive as Naruto's.

_ It's very complicated, indeed,_ Neji agreed._ I haven't gotten a single lead to figuring out where Utah is..._ Resolving to drop the subject for the moment, he asked another question that surfaced within his mind. Almost hesitantly, he inquired, "Do you know where I'll be sleeping?"

Sammy nearly groaned as she felt a red heat crawl up her neck and onto her cheeks, both upset about answering the question and about how blatantly obvious it was that she was embarrassed. She was hoping she wouldn't have to answer that question the moment she realized they would have to share the same sleeping bag, and hoped and dreamed she wouldn't... but, of course, it came up in their conversation. "Well... um... Tobi and Deidara are spending the night. Deidara's going to sleep on the couch, and Tobi already has a sleeping bag outside..." Sammy trailed off, covering her face with her hands, hoping it seemed nonchalant towards Neji. "So that leaves two more sleeping bags. Aaand, Naruto's sleeping over, as well."

Neji regarded her silently, taking note of the blush that arose on her cheeks, wondering what it meant. He ignored the fact that she knew all of this without leaving the room for quite a while as he continued to think, even though it continued to nag at him, practically screaming to ask about it. _If there are three sleeping bags while Tobi already has one,_ he pondered, _then Savanna and Naruto are definitely going to share..._

And then it hit him.

"So... you and I are going to have to share a sleeping bag?"

Sammy's stomach performed a number of backflips just at the thought. To be honest, she didn't really know what to think about the idea... in reality, they had barely met, despite the fact that the blonde had watched Neji for a couple of years, now. Would it be too much for him? She really hoped not. It was a bit overwhelming for her, but...

The whole thing made her nervous. Just nervous.

"I know we just met, but... I mean, we really don't have a choice... not that I don't want to. I just don't know what to think about it all," the girl stammered, lowering her hands so her chin was resting on them once again. She wished she would shrivel up and blow away. This wasn't her idea of a casual conversation.

"Weeelll," Naruto drawled, bringing his hands up to the back of his head. "Not exactly. I guess I have a few ideas going around in my head, but... I just really like talking to you."

In order to prevent herself from blushing for the umpteenth time, Savanna let herself say whatever was on her mind with honesty. "I do, too," she confessed. "I'm glad we feel the same way." She did admit that the last sentence was laying it on a little thick, but at the moment, she didn't care- Savanna felt as if she needed to let out her feelings, which she had kept bottled up for the majority of the day.

Just to make sure that her night (and her guests') would be a peaceful and undisturbed one, Savanna quickly strided over to the window and peered out into her front yard. As soon as she rested her gaze upon Tobi, she slapped a hand over her mouth and barely caught herself before she could gasp out loud.

On the good side, Tobi was about ten feet away from the window, and he appeared to be sleeping very soundly inside his sleeping bag.

But on the bad side...

Tobi laid right in the center of the large mud puddle he had slipped on earlier, and mud caked his entire being (along with the sleeping bag) from head to toe.

Noticing Savanna's startled reaction, Naruto appeared by her side in an instant. "What is it?" he hurriedly questioned, leaning towards her so he could get a good look outside.

"Tobi..." Savanna whispered, timidly pointing a finger at the filthy Akatsuki member.

A few seconds later, a flicker of understanding crossed Naruto's features. "Woww," he breathed. "That guy's gonna need a major shower."


End file.
